The Dead Reunited
by Caskett54
Summary: Rose Tyler has managed to break through into her home universe - a year in advance. But when she begins searching for the Doctor, she finds someone else instead. Someone she wasn't expecting to see. 10/Rose.
1. Chapter 1

**NOTE: This story disregards the events of the Doctor Who 2005 Children in Need special, in which the Doctor tells Rose that Jack is busy rebuilding the Earth. When I started writing this, I hadn't seen that, and I assumed that Rose thought he was dead. I don't feel like going back through the story and changing it now that I have seen the Children in Need special, and it works much better for the fic if Rose thought Jack died on Satellite Five. Just go with it.**

-0-0-0-

Universe jumping is a bitch.

That's the thing about these new-and-improved dimension-hopping devices. The old ones didn't hurt a bit. But with these new ones, you're not just jumping through a hole in the fabric of reality that already exists – you're tearing that hole for yourself, and you come through feeling like you've just gotten hit by a truck.

It happens every time. Whenever they test out the device, she's always the one to volunteer. The first bunch of tests, nothing happened at all. It was perhaps the eleventh test when something actually did happened, and she wound up trapped halfway in between for two days before Tosh and Mickey could figure out a way to get her out. After that, they started running a lot more simulations and doing a lot less actual tests, but eventually you actually have to start trying it out again for real.

Then they had another batch of failures, some of which did nothing, some of which teleported her across the room, and one of which actually zapped her three hours into the future. She came through to find Tosh and Mickey panicking – they couldn't figure out what had happened. It wasn't until the thirty-first test that they actually achieved the desired results.

She wasn't sure exactly where she came out – some alley somewhere – but she materialized in a flash of blue light and really freaked out a homeless guy. She was only there for a split second, and then the dimension hopping device (or 'dimension cannon', as they'd chosen to rename it) failed and she found herself right back in the Torchwood base, completely unharmed but feeling as though her entire body was battered and bruised.

At first, they thought she'd just been teleported, but eventually Tosh was able to gather from the readings that she had, in fact, spent a half a second in her home universe.

She bought everyone drinks that night.

The next morning, it was back to work, and now the problem wasn't getting her through to the alternate reality – it was getting her to stay there. That's what they've spent the past few months trying to achieve, and finally, they've managed it. Here she is, aching everywhere, standing on an empty street. She waits for one minute. Then two. Two minutes and thirty-seven seconds is the longest they've ever sustained a connection to the alternate universe before (Ianto timed it – he loves that stopwatch of his, for whatever reason). She waits, barely remembering to breathe, counting the seconds. Thirty-six… thirty-seven… thirty-eight.

She lets out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and looks down at her dimension cannon, flipping it over to the side opposite to the yellow button, where the words CONNECTION STABLE are visible on the little display screen.

She can't help but cheer.

She did it. They all did it. It took over a year, but at long last, Rose Tyler has come home.

Oh, God, she's done it. She's back. She's home. More importantly, _she is sharing a universe with the Doctor._

She wants to scream and laugh and jump up and down and punch the air. She's closer to him than she has been in nearly a year. She can get back to him. _She can see him again. _

She is literally to ecstatic for words.

The rest of her team must've realized that they've passed two minutes and thirty-seven seconds, because, in a blinding flash of bright blue light, Mickey Smith appears next to her, their second prototype dimension cannon in his hand. It's an older version, the one that never gets further than two minutes and thirty-seven seconds. "Have you got it?" he asks. "A stable connection?"

She just nods, a wide grin on your face.

He nods back. "Alright, come on back. Tosh can run some tests, analyze the data, we can work out a plan, and we'll come back tomorrow."

"No."

He frowns. "No?"

"No," she repeats simply. "I'm not coming back. I've already got a plan."

"Rose –"

"Mickey," she says, "for all we know, this is a one-time thing. This could be my only opportunity. I'm not coming back."

He sighs, and replies. "Alright. But – come back eventually, yeah?"

"Eventually," she agrees. "I've got to say goodbye to everyone. But right now, more important things."

"Yeah," he murmurs despondently. "Alright, I'll tell the team. See you, Rose." Then he looks down at his watch and counts the time he's got left. He vanishes at two minutes and twenty-nine seconds.

She almost feels bad about brushing him off like that, but she doesn't let it get to her. She won't let anything spoil this brilliance, this sheer, undiluted _fantastic-ness. _She's sharing a universe with the Doctor. She's going to see him again. It's going to happen.

She's happier than she's been in nearly a year. Maybe longer.

She finds a nice spot on the ground in an alley, tucked-away and somewhat sheltered, and lies down, taking off her hoodie and using it as a pillow. She sleeps there, more soundly than she typically does in her own bed. And when she wakes up, the sun is shining.

It's a new day. A new day in her universe.

And she's still here. The cannon hasn't pulled her back yet. She's really managed a stable connection, and now she's completely here. Nothing tying her to the other universe; no tethers, no strings attached. She is really and properly here.

She hasn't really got a plan, but she's got an idea of one, and that's the rift. The Cardiff space-and-time rift, the one that Gwyneth closed in 1869. He brings the TARDIS there sometimes to refuel – if she sticks near it, he's bound to show up eventually. And oh, the look on his face when he sees her will be _priceless. _

So she gets up, puts her hoodie on, makes sure she's still got the dimension cannon in her pocket and her TARDIS key on a string around her neck, and sets about figuring out where she is.

-0-0-0-

"_Hello, you've reached the TARDIS. That's Time and Relative Dimension in Space. If you're calling this number, it's probably very important, but I'm off saving the universe somewhere, so leave your name and time coordinates and I'll be with you in a second."_

His voice on the answering machine is very nearly enough to cause her to burst into tears, but she maintains her composure. It takes a few moments after the beep for her to pull herself together enough to speak, though, but she manages it eventually.

"Doctor," she chokes out. "It's me, it's Rose." She takes a deep, shaky breath. "I'm here, it's me. I got back. Took me long enough, but I'm here now. And before you think this is some sort of complicated alien trickery or whatever, give me a minute."

She takes another deep breath, and begins. "First word you ever said to me. Basement of Henrik's, surrounded by shop window dummies. You took my hand, you looked me in the eye, and you said to me, you said… run. And then after you regenerated, I didn't believe that it was really you, and that was what you told me to convince me. That story. First word you ever said to me.

"First place you ever took me was the end of the world in the year five billion. You thought you were so impressive. We had chips." The last three words come out as a strangled laugh. "We met Charles Dickens in 1869, and a woman named Gwyneth closed the Cardiff Rift. We met Jack Harkness in 1941 during the London Blitz, when nanogenes were turning all those people into gas mask zombies." She use her free hand to wipe a tear from her eye and struggles to continue around the tightness of her throat. "You swapped out his gun for a banana, and then told him not to lose it because it was a good source of potassium."

She gives a choked laugh, and then continues with the convincing. "I kissed you while Cassandra was possessing me. Britain's royal family are werewolves. Pre-Revolutionary France on a spaceship with Mickey and a horse. Cybermen in an alternate universe. I lost my face when we tried to go see Elvis but ended up fighting the Wire on the day of the Queen's coronation. You got stuck in an eleven-year-old girl's drawing during the London Olympics, 2012… and then you carried the torch. That's when I told you that they kept trying to split us up, but they never ever would, and you told me… never say never ever. And then came Torchwood and the ghosts, and you tried to send me away with Mum and Pete and Mickey, but I came back, and I said to you, I said… I said, 'I made my choice a long time ago, and I am never gonna leave you'." She sucks in another deep, unsteady breath. "So this is me," she says. "Not leaving you."

She pauses for a while, and finally adds, "Cardiff, Doctor. Come to Cardiff. Present day. That's 2007, mind you. Cardiff, same place you always park to refuel, right on top of the rift. That's where I'll be. Right there waiting for you."

She pauses for a long time, opens her mouth to say something else, closes it, and hangs up. Then she shoves her phone back into her pocket and heads for the Cardiff rift.

-0-0-0-

"Jack," Toshiko Sato calls, though she doesn't look up from the monitors of her computers. "There's someone hanging around outside."

"Who is it?" Captain Jack Harkness calls back, and he doesn't look up from his coffee machine.

"I don't know," Tosh replies. "Some girl. Young. Come and see."

He picks up the cup of super-strength coffee he's just brewed and walks over to her, looking over her shoulder at the screen. Their security cameras aren't as high-definition as he wishes that they were, but he can see the girl Tosh is talking about. She's average-sized, with shoulder-length straight blonde hair. She sits on a bench near the entrance to Torchwood, watching not the people, not the monuments, but…

Empty space. That's all. She's just watching this empty space on the sidewalk, close to the square with the perception filter, but not close enough to make him think that that's what she's looking for. She's not doing anything, not moving, just watching, but she's grinning like crazy.

"Can you zoom in and enhance?" he asks, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I can try," Tosh replies, and hits a few keys; the camera zooms in on the girl, and the image quality gets a little better.

Jack nearly drops his coffee cup.

This is not lost on Tosh, who looks over her shoulder to frown at him, or Gwen, who has come down the stairs and is looking at the footage from beside Jack. "What is it, Jack?" she asks him in her smooth Welsh accent. "Something wrong?"

"I'm not sure," he replies. But that grin; the barely discernible facial features; her posture; that bleach blonde hair… "That girl…"

Gwen leans towards the computer, peering at the girl. "Just a girl. What? Do you know her?"

"She looks like…" He pauses. "Like someone I used to know. A long time ago. But that can't be right."

"Why not?"

"Because," Jack tells her, already putting his mug down on Tosh's desk and moving towards the perception filter platform, "she's dead."

He steps onto the platform and Tosh, without questioning him, enters the command to raise it. Slowly, too slowly, agonizingly slowly, it floats upward, and eventually, it pushes him out onto the street, locking into place with the rest of the pavement.

He looks around for a few seconds, and it doesn't take him long to find the girl from the footage. Thin and pretty with warm hazel eyes and a sheet of light blonde hair, shorter and shinier than he remembers it, but definitely the same color. She glances to the side, and he gets a full view of her face, and _oh, God, it's her. _

It's her.

It's really her.

It's impossible. She's supposed to be dead. He thought she was dead.

But she's here. It's her.

He steps off the perception filter just as her gaze begins to drift back towards the place on the concrete she'd been watching; it passes over him and continues on for just a second before snapping back to him in a frantic double-take. She takes in the handsome face, the well-built body, the long dark blue military coat; her jaw drops and her eyes widen, and in an instant she's on her feet.

Across the space between them, he can still hear her murmur of "Captain Jack Harkness."

"Rose," he says, and then they're running towards each other, tearing through space and crashing into each other, all clumsiness and laughter and shouts of surprise and delight. Eventually, they manage to turn their ungraceful embrace into a real hug, and she buries her face in her shoulder as he repeats her name, first and last this time.

"Rose Tyler."

"Jack," she laughs. "I thought you were dead! Satellite Five, and the Daleks, and I thought –"

"Nope," he replies, pulling back and holding her at arm's length. "Just fine. Managed to get back alright. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Well," he says, "I sort of thought _you _were dead."

"Me?" She frowns. "Why would you – oh." Realization dawns on her face, and she nods. "Right. Battle of Canary Wharf. List of the dead. Yeah, sorry about that. Nope. I'm alright."

"I can see that," he agrees. "Feel like telling me how?"

"It's sort of a long story."

"I've got time."

"Alright, then," she says, and moves back towards the bench. "Come on, sit down." He follows her and they sit, and she begins, "So, start from the beginning, yes?" She sucks in a deep breath. "Alright. There's this organization, it's called Torchwood –"

She sees him stiffen, and frowns. "What?"

"Nothing," he says. "But – I know all about Torchwood."

"Oh." She purses her lips. "Guess that makes this easier, then. Don't have to explain as much. You know all about Canary Wharf, too, right? Daleks in the skies, Cybermen in the streets. And then they all got yanked right back into the building." Another deep breath. "Well, that was us."

"Figured you and the Doctor probably had something to do with that," Jack tells her.

"See," Rose continues, "the Daleks and the Cybermen, they came through from an alternate reality. A parallel universe, you know. Like on TV. And the Doctor figured out that if we opened the Void between the universes, then they'd all get sucked back in, because anything that's been through the Void is sort of soaked in Void stuff. It's hard to explain, but it works. Trouble was, we'd sort of been through to the alternate universe before. Really long story. But anyway, the Doctor, he sent me and my mum and Mickey all through to the alternate universe before he opened the Void, but I came back."

"Typical Rose Tyler."

"Shut up," she instructs, but there's a smile in her voice. "So I stayed, and we opened the Void, and we were holding on so we wouldn't get pulled in, but I – fell. Pete, that's my dad, he came back through from the parallel world in time to catch me and take me back with him."

"Isn't your dad –"

"Dead, yeah," Rose confirms. "Not in the other universe, though. Anyways, the Void closed up and I was stuck on the wrong side. That's where I've been for the past year. Trapped in a parallel world."

"Ouch," Jack sympathizes. "How'd you get back here?"

"Joined up with the other universe's version of Torchwood," she explains. "We managed to build these." Reaching into the pocket of her hoodie, she pulls out a small yellow button. "We call it a dimension cannon. Blasts a hole in the fabric of reality and lets you jump from one universe to the other."

"And the Doctor?"

"Yeah, he – he's still here," she replies, tucking the dimension cannon back into her pocket. "S'why I came back. To find him." She takes another deep breath. "So, what about you? How'd you survive Satellite Five?"

He opens his mouth to begin when he hears Tosh's voice in his ear. _"Jack? What's going on up there?"_

He lifts his hand to his earpiece and replies, "I'm a bit busy at the moment, Tosh. Do you need something?"

"_I'm getting some interesting readings," _comes her response. _"You might want to come look at this."_

He sighs. "Alright. I'm on my way." Turning to Rose, he says, "Sorry. Duty calls –"

"Torchwood," she interrupts.

"What?"

"You work for Torchwood," she states. "I can put the pieces together, Jack. We're standing outside this reality's equivalent of my Torchwood's headquarters. The way you just appeared out of nowhere over there, that's the platform with the perception filter. And that woman you're talking to – Toshiko, right? She's with Torchwood in the other reality, too."

He sighs. "Yeah. Alright. Yeah. I'm with Torchwood."

"Well, then." She stands. "We shouldn't keep Tosh waiting. She hates that."

-0-0-0-

The instant he comes through the door with a girl they don't know, the entire Torchwood team is on the alert.

"Jack," Tosh says, sounding worried, as her eyes flick between him and Rose. "Who's this? What's going on?"

"Should she even be in here?" Owen Harper calls over. "Is she even allowed to be in here?"

"Tosh!" Rose exclaims, sounding delighted as she grins at the Japanese woman. "Good to see you – and Owen Harper." She sounds significantly less delighted now. "Hello there." Leaning over to Jack, she murmurs, "You've got all the same team as me."

"Good to know."

"Few changes, though," she muses. "No Suzie, and –" She frowns at the way they all flinch at the mention of that name. "What? Suzie?"

"Suzie Costello?" Jack asks, sounding very much as though he hopes she'll tell him no, a different Suzie.

"Yeah," she agrees. "That's her. Why, does she work here, too? Is it her day off or something?"

"She's dead," Tosh says shortly.

"Oh." Rose frowns. "Sorry about that, then. Didn't know. And you're new," she adds, pointing to Gwen. "Swear I've seen you somewhere before, though."

"Jack," Gwen asks warily, "who is she?"

"Gwen Cooper," Jack says, "Rose Tyler. She's an old friend."

"Hello there," Rose chimes, waving. "Nice to meet you, Gwen Cooper."

"How does she know all of us?" Tosh demands.

"She's been living in a parallel universe for a little while," Jack explains. "She worked with their version of Torchwood. She doesn't know you, she knows… different versions of you."

"Oh, my God, I've got it!" Rose exclaims shrilly, pointing at Gwen with a wild-eyed, bordering-on-panicked expression on her face. "You're Gwyneth!"

"No," Gwen corrects slowly. "Gwen. Haven't gone by Gwyneth since I was four."

"No, but you are!" she insists. "Jack, she – she's from this time, right?"

Jack frowns. "Yeah. Why?"

"She didn't, I don't know, fall through the rift in the 1860s and end up here?"

His frown deepens. "You know about the rift?"

"Yeah, space-time rift in the middle of Cardiff. She closed it."

"I'm not from the 1860s," Gwen says helpfully. "Dunno what you're on about, but that's not me."

"Right. Huh." Rose bites her lip. "Related, then. You're pretty much identical."

"Rose," Jack says. "Explain."

"Second place the Doctor ever took me," she tells him. "Christmas in Cardiff, 1869. A bunch of blue ghost things called Gelth coming out of a rift in space and time tried to kill us, but a woman named Gwyneth closed up the rift. She died doing it." She nods to Gwen. "Your girl over there looks exactly like her."

"That's funny." Jack turns to Gwen. "Gwen, you haven't been time traveling lately, have you?"

"No," Gwen replies. "Has she?"

"Not lately, no," Rose says brightly. "Been about a year since my last trip."

At the blank look she receives, Rose frowns. "What? I did mention the Doctor earlier, didn't I?" Now she's getting blank looks from Gwen, Owen, and Tosh. "Doctor? Not ringing any bells?" She spun to face Jack. "You haven't told them about the Doctor?"

"It wasn't important," he replies.

"Not im–" Her blonde hair flies outward, propelled by the centrifugal force as she turns and stomps a few paces away from him, an outraged expression on her face. "How can you say that?" she demands; her face is contorted in anger as she turns to face him again. "Jack, it's the most important thing in the world!"

"Rose," he ventures, holding out a hand to her, "I didn't mean it like that –"

"No." She shakes her head passionately, stepping backwards away from him; underneath the anger, there's something in her expression that's almost like fear and distrust. Like she doesn't know him anymore. "What else, Jack?" she fumes. "What else haven't you told them?"

"Rosie –"

"No!" she interrupts. "You don't get to – not anymore." She's breathing heavily as she turns away from him and mutters, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Once a con man, always a con man."

There's silence until Gwen asks, "Jack, what's she mean by that? What does she mean, con man?"

"So he hasn't told you." Anger still burns in Rose's eyes as she turns back to the Torchwood team (but deliberately doesn't look at Jack), but it's not blind, senseless anger. It's clever anger, thought-out anger. Anger of a much more dangerous sort. "That's what he is," she spits. "A con man. A Time Agent turned con man. That's how we met. A con gone wrong in 1941. Right smack in the middle of the London Blitz. He almost killed hundreds of people, did he tell you that? Hundreds of innocent people might've died, all because he was stupid, and careless, and greedy. But they didn't." She takes a deep, shaky breath. "Because of the Doctor. Because the Doctor came in and cleaned up the mess you left behind." At this point, she's turned her head and is addressing Jack. "He saved all those people, and so many others, so don't you_ dare _say that he isn't important!"

For almost a full minute, silence fills the base. No one speaks. No one moves. Gwen, Tosh, and Owen watch Jack and Rose, somewhere between curious, confused, and scared. Rose stares Jack down with fury burning in her usually warm, comforting chocolate-and-olive eyes. Jack avoids her gaze, because he knows she's right.

"I'm sorry," he says eventually, his voice uncharacteristically soft. "I'm sorry, Rosie. That's not how I meant it."

"Maybe it is and maybe it isn't," she replies strongly. "It's wrong either way." He doesn't reply, so she continues. "Now I'm going to tell these people who the Doctor is, because in the universe where he doesn't exist, they know, and they really ought to know here. And because they should know just how much they owe to him." She turns to Gwen, Owen, and Tosh, and begins.

-0-0-0-

**I actually wasn't intending for Rose to get mad at Jack here. It just sort of happened. It's like I tell people all the time - the characters are in charge, not me. I have no control over them.**

**Anyways, this will be a 10/Rose story, but the Doctor might not show up for a few chapters.**

**To those of you who read my other DW multi-chapter, _The Slow Path - _don't worry, writing this story won't slow down the updates of that one. I actually have this fic completely written, which is why I feel safe posting it even though I'm already in the middle of _The Slow Path. _So yeah. Also, being done with this story means that you lot can get rewards! Like hints and early updates and stuff! And all you have to do is review! For example, if we can get to five reviews, I'll give you Chapter Two early. Hoorah!**

**-Caskett54**


	2. Chapter 2

"When I was nineteen years old," Rose begins, "I worked in a shop. Henrik's, it was called. Didn't have much of a life. College dropout living with her mum, never leaves the house except for work and the occasional date with her sweet but dim-witted boyfriend."

"I'm sorry," Owen interrupts, "is this going somewhere?"

"You're just as annoying in this universe as the other," she sighs. "Dunno how she puts up with you. Now, I'm not sure, because your timeline might be different, but in your life, did you do something on the night of September the 27th, 2003? Maybe something you'd rather I didn't tell the room?"

Owen freezes. "You wouldn't."

"I would," she counters. "Yes, this is going somewhere, and I'd thank you to shut up." Turning back to Gwen and Tosh, she continues, "Maybe you remember the night a few years back when that shop I was talking about, Henrik's, exploded, just little while before all those shop window dummies came to life." A small, nostalgic grin forms on her lips. "That was him. That was the Doctor. See, there was this alien, the Nestene Consciousness, controlling all the plastic in the world, and he stopped it. He had to blow up my job first, but I really didn't care, because he saved the world, and I helped. And that was when he asked me to come with him."

"Come where?" Gwen asks.

"Travelling," Rose replies with a sad smile. "All of space and time inside a funny little blue box. He took me travelling, the Doctor did, and the places we went… the end of the world in the year five billion was the first place he took me. He thought he was so impressive back then. And then 1869 with those blue ghosts – that was when you showed up, Gwen." She points to Gwen. "Other you, that is. Gwyneth. Anyways. We kept going. Aliens in Downing Street. The London Blitz – that's when we picked up Jack, and he travelled with us for a little while. And then we ended up on this satellite, Satellite Five, and that's when everything started changing.

"I don't know if any of you – Jack excepted – have ever seen a Dalek. If you haven't, take my advice and hope it stays that way. They're terrifying, absolutely terrifying, stone-cold killers inside metal shells with no emotions but hate. That's what we were facing on Satellite Five, and the Doctor sent me home.

"He did it to protect me, to save me. But I didn't want saving, so I opened up the TARDIS – that's his ship, the funny blue box – and I looked into her heart, and I got the entire time vortex downloaded into my head. And I came back. And I looked right up at the Dalek emperor and I poured the vortex into his head and turned him to dust. I don't remember it, 'cause the Doctor had to take the vortex out of me to save my life, but he's told me what I did. I saved everyone. But at a cost.

"The Doctor's a Time Lord. The very last of the Time Lords. And Time Lords have this trick, this way of cheating death. When he took the vortex out of me, he took it into himself, and no one's meant to do that, see. So he was dying. But he didn't die, he just – it's called regeneration. Everything he is changes. Every cell in his body dies and is reborn. And he's the same man afterwards, but he's… different. It's hard to explain.

"I didn't trust him at first, after he regenerated. I didn't really understand that he was still my Doctor, absolutely the same man I knew. But I got the message eventually, and we kept travelling. The city of New New York on the planet of New Earth. Queen Victoria and a werewolf at Torchwood House in 1879 – that's how you lot got founded," she adds, noticing the sudden alertness in their expressions at the word 'Torchwood'. "That was me. And the Doctor. At Torchwood house. With a werewolf. And Queen Victoria. I got her to say 'I am not amused' eventually, but he never paid up." She clears her throat. "Anyway. We kept going. Pre-Revolutionary France on a spaceship. Cybermen in an alternate universe. A sanctuary base on an impossible planet, with a black hole on the horizon and the devil itself at its core. London Olympics, 2012. And then you lot again.

"Torchwood. Defenders of the Earth." She scoffs. "Nothing against all you, of course. You seem pretty similar to my Torchwood team, and they're good people. But your London branch – it's their fault I got stranded in the first place.

"You all surely remember the story. Around one year back, all the ghosts, Cybermen everywhere and those strange metal things in the skies – those were Daleks, by the way, if you didn't know that. Anyway, I'm sure you all remember, so I don't have to tell it. Probably, you also know that a lot of it was Torchwood's fault, what with the 'ghost shifts' and all that. But what you don't know is that it was the Doctor and me who put a stop to it. We opened up the Void – that's the dead space between universes – and all the Daleks and Cybermen got sucked back in, because the Daleks, they'd been living in the Void, and the Cybermen came through it from another universe. Trouble was, the Doctor and me, we'd been through to the other universe, too, so we were getting pulled in, too. We were holding on, but I – I fell. My dad came back through from the other universe in time to grab me and take me back to his universe, but then the Void sealed itself and I was trapped on the wrong side. That's where I've been for the past year. Living with my mum and dad in a parallel world, working for Torchwood with my ex-boyfriend, trying to find a way to get back. Not just because I want to come home. Actually, that's just a small part. Mostly, it's him.

"The Doctor." She sighs. "He's brilliant and he's clever and he's wonderful. He's like this light burning through time, and it's hard to get close to him because he know that if you do you might get burned, too, but really, he's worth it all. He's like fire and ice and day and night and love and anger all poured into one. And he's fantastic." She puts special emphasis on the word 'fantastic', as though it means something, but only Jack seems to understand – he conceals a small smile. "And I can't live without him," Rose continues. "Neither can you, whether you know it or not – he's saved you so many times and you never even knew he was there. But I knew, 'cause I was there, too. 'Cause he's my Doctor, and I'm never, ever going to stop coming back to him."

After her speech, there's silence for a few moments; finally, Gwen steps down to her and envelopes the younger girl in a hug.

"Oh," Rose says. "Um, hi." After a moment's hesitation, she returns the embrace, hugging back until Gwen pulls away. "What was that for?"

"Dunno," Gwen replies with a shrug. "Just – it's a sad story, and I'm sorry you had to go through that. I guess it just sort of seemed right."

Rose offers a weak smile. "Thanks." She takes a deep breath. "Have you got someone, Gwen?"

"Boyfriend," she replies. "Rhys. Sort of the sweet but dim-witted sort you mentioned earlier, but I love him."

"Nothing wrong with sweet but dim-witted," Rose agrees.

"But what you've got with your Doctor," Gwen continues, "that's special. That's something, that is. And you're right not to let it get away."

"Thanks," Rose whispers.

"So that's who your Doctor is," Owen calls. "Who's he, then?" He gestures to Jack with his head.

"Him," Rose sighs. "He's a complicated one, he is. Used to work for the Time Agency, but that's gone now, and besides, he went rogue. Became a sort of intergalactic con man. It's actually sort of a funny story, how we met –"

"She was dangling from a rope underneath a barrage balloon in the middle of the London Blitz wearing a Union Jack t-shirt," Jack puts in. "I caught her with my invisible spaceship."

"You're kidding," Owen says.

"Dangling from a barrage balloon," Tosh repeats, aiming her statement-question at Rose.

"Hundreds of feet above London," Rose agrees.

"In the middle of the Blitz."

"Union Jack all over my chest." She huffs a small laugh at the memory. "That's me. Rose Tyler, setting new records for jeopardy-friendly through time and space."

"So what happened next?" Gwen presses.

"He thought I was a Time Agent," Rose continues. "Wanted to sell me what he said was a military vessel."

"It was!"

"It was an ambulance, Jack, and a virtually useless one at that," she sighs. "Anyway, these little nanogenes had escaped from the crashed ship and brought this little boy that they killed back to life, except they'd never seen a human before, and they thought that what this little boy looked like was what all humans were supposed to look like – wearing a gas mask with very specific physical injuries. So they went around London, and everyone they infected grew a gas mask out of their face and got those same injuries, and they were all basically possessed by this kid, and they went around asking, 'Are you my mummy?'" Rose shivers. "Creepiest thing I've ever seen. His fault, it was."

"So who exactly is he, then?" Owen demands.

"Who is he," Rose muses, turning to look at Jack. "He's the man who ought to be dead."

"He's the man who can't die," Gwen puts in.

Everyone immediately turns and stares at her, and she takes a step back. "It's true!" she says defensively. "First time I met him – well, close to the first, anyway – I saw him take a bullet to the head and live. Just stood up like it was nothing, all healed and everything."

All eyes turn to Jack, and he relents. "Alright," he says. "I can't die."

"What do you mean by that?" Rose asks. "You can't die?"

"You don't know this?" Owen asks her.

"No. Haven't seen him in two years. This is new."

"It's been a bit longer than that for me," he tells her. "It's a long story."

"I told my long story," Rose reasons. "Your turn."

He sighs. "Alright, fine.

"It started on Satellite Five. Everyone else was dead – I was the last line of defense between the Daleks and the Doctor. I was shooting at them, and then – nothing. They'd exterminated me. It didn't hurt as much as you'd think, but the whole experience wasn't pleasant, because after that, there was… nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"Until, all of a sudden, I was back.

"I don't know what happened, but I was alive again and the Daleks were gone. Just piles of dust left where they'd been. That must've been you, Rose. Anyway, I ran upstairs, got there just in time to see the TARDIS dematerializing."

"We left you," Rose whispers. "We left you in the future."

"I got back just fine," he says, and lifts his wrist, pulling back his sleeve to expose the wristband. "Vortex manipulator. Cheap and nasty time travel. Not great for you, but it gets the job done. Unfortunately, it had been a bit on the fritz for a while, so when I tried to come back to the twenty-first century – figured that's when I'd be most likely to find you two – it got the year a bit wrong and I ended up in the eighteen hundreds."

"A bit wrong?" she protests. He doesn't reply, so she sucks in a deep breath and says, "But you fixed it, right? I mean, you're here now."

"Nope," he says. "Had to get here the old-fashioned way. Lived my way through the whole twentieth century."

"That makes you more than a hundred years old!" Gwen cries.

"And looking good," he agrees. "I am aging, just very, very slowly. And I can't die. I should've died many times by now, but for some reason, I can't. It just doesn't stick."

"That," Owen declares, "is weird. And medically impossible."

"Oh, is he a doctor here?" Rose asks Jack, her eyes wide.

"Yeah."

"Aw, that's weird," she says. "Owen a doctor. Ha! He wouldn't have the patience in the other world."

"I've got plenty of patience, thank you," Owen mutters.

"He hasn't," Gwen hisses.

"Shut up."

"Anyway," Rose announces, "I'm looking for the Doctor. That's what I'm here to do and that's what I'm going to do. If any of you want to help, feel free. Otherwise, I'll find him on my own."

"No," Jack says. "You should stick around. Hang with us while you wait."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because," he explains, "if he's going to show up, where do you think he'll park? Right up there on top of the rift. And besides, I'm waiting for him, too."

Both are silent for a moment; Rose runs her fingers through her hair awkwardly, and finally, murmurs, "Alright. I'll stay."

"Okay. You'll need a place to live for the time being –"

"She can stay with me." Gwen puts a hand up. "Just for a little while. Rhys won't mind."

"Are you sure?" Rose asks emphatically. "I don't want to impose –"

"It's fine," Gwen insists. "Come on. I'll take you. Have you got any stuff? Clothes or anything?"

"No."

"That's alright, something of mine ought to fit you." The Welsh brunette takes her hand and leads her back up to the office at ground level, where Ianto sits behind the desk. "Gwen," he greets as they come up. "Jack's friend – what was your name?"

"Rose Tyler," she says. "Good to see you, Ianto."

Ianto frowns. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"Long story," Gwen interrupts. "Get Jack to explain." Then she drags Rose out of the base and they catch a taxi back to her flat.

-0-0-0-

As soon as the door opens, Rose hears a man's voice calling out, "Sweetheart, which drawer –"

"The one to the left of the sink," Gwen calls out before he can even finish. "Same place it always is."

"Thanks." The man, who Rose can see now – he's got brown hair and isn't bad-looking, really – moves to open the drawer she'd indicated, but stops when he sees Rose. "Who's this, then?"

"Rose Tyler," Rose calls, putting a hand up in greeting. "You must be Rhys, then."

"Yeah," he agrees, and looks at Gwen. "Who's she?"

"Rhys, I'm not going to lie to you," Gwen says, stepping towards him. "Not like with Emma, alright? Rose does have to do with work. She's an old friend of Jack's. My boss, remember? She's been away for a while, but now she's come back and she's looking for someone she lost a while ago. I said she could stay with us while she looks. She won't be long, just until she finds the person she's looking for. Is that okay?"

There's a pause while Rhys watches Rose as though he expects her to pull out a gun or burst into flames or something odd like that. Finally, he says, "Yeah. Yeah, I guess that's alright."

"Thanks," Rose says. "I swear, I won't get in the way, I'll do all my own dishes. I'll probably spend most of my time out anyways – just need a place to sleep is all. But thanks."

"Come on." Gwen steps forward, gesturing for Rose to follow her. "Let's get you settled in the guest room, then."

"Thank you so much," Rose stresses as she follows Gwen down the hall. "You've got no idea how much this means to me."

"I know what it would mean to me if it were me and Rhys," she says, opening a door to reveal a small guest bedroom. "And, you know, anything for an old friend of Jack's."

They both step inside; Rose surveys the room, taking it in. It's comfy-looking but fairly impersonal. The sheets are plain white, the walls are off-white and blank, the closet is empty. She misses her bedroom in the alternate universe, and so much more, she misses her room on the TARDIS, with the pink-and-yellow sheets for his pink-and-yellow girl, with the ornate white wood dresser with the mirror on top, with the goofy pictures of her and him from all over time and space tacked up on the walls.

"What were you to him, exactly?" Gwen says, interrupting her thoughts, and it takes Rose a moment to remember that Gwen can't see the images she's picturing, that she's talking about Jack, not the Doctor.

"What d'you mean?" Rose asks.

"I mean… were you two…"

"Oh! No." Rose shakes her head. "No, no. Not at all. I mean, he never stopped flirting with me, but Jack, he's like that with everyone."

"Believe me, I know."

"But no. We weren't." She offers a small half-smile. "Friends. Good friends. He's like my brother, really. I think of him as a brother and he thinks of me as a sister." She leans over the bed and moves to smooth out the comforter; when she leans forward, her hair swings in front of her face, so she lifts a hand and sweeps it behind her ear before she lowers her hand and finishes smoothing out the blanket. After a moment, she straightens up, looks over at Gwen, and says, "So, what about you?"

Gwen frowns. "What about me?"

"Well, you and Jack," Rose clarifies. "Are you two –"

Gwen's eyes widen. "No! No, no, nothing like that."

Rose nods. "Sorry, I didn't mean –"

"No, it's okay. I get – I mean –" Gwen flushes; looking rather flustered, she turns around and heads back out the door. "It's late," she calls back over her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow, Rose."

"See you," Rose murmurs as Gwen steps out of the room and pulls the door shut behind her.

Insulated by the silence of the guest room, Rose drops onto the bed, lying there with her head on the mattress a ways below the pillow and her legs bent at the knees, leaving her lower legs dangling off the foot of the bed. It's comfortable, not nearly as comfortable as her bed back in the-place-that-isn't-really-home, and of course it can't compare to her pink-and-yellow room in the place-that-really-is-home. But it's comfortable. And more importantly, it's _here. _It's her universe. It's _his _universe. She's closer to him than she has been in so long. She can practically see the awestruck look that will surely light up his face when he sees her, can practically hear his footfalls and his rapid breath as he runs towards her, can practically feel his body crashing into hers as he grabs her and holds her and doesn't let go. She can almost feel the warmth of his body, of his breath on her ear as he whispers her name, _Rose, Rose, Rose. _

She's going to see him again. It's really going to happen. She's going to find him, really and truly going to find him. And then she'll never let him go again.

-0-0-0-

**Well, that didn't take long, did it? Let's be a bit more ambitious this time - ten reviews for an early update. Ta!**

**-Caskett54**


	3. Chapter 3

Gwen Cooper wakes early the next morning. She doesn't bother trying to get back to sleep, simply takes her sweet time getting out of bed. Once she's dressed, she meanders down the hall and peeks into Rose's room, just to check on the younger blonde girl. She's out cold, sleeping peacefully but in a rather odd position – she's still completely dressed and isn't under the blanket; her head is far from the pillow; and her legs, bent at the knees, dangle off the edge of the bed. Gwen can remember times she's laid down like that, but she's never fallen asleep there. This girl was either extraordinarily tired or very much at peace. Perhaps both.

She leaves her there – it's early, not nearly time to head in to work yet, so there's no reason for Rose to be up. Besides, she doubts she could bring herself to wake someone from such a blissful rest. So she just pulls the door shut silently and walks out into the living room.

She's surprised to see Rhys there, sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee he's not drinking clutched between his hands. His laptop is open on the coffee table – it's awake, but its screen is black.

"Rhys," she greets. "You big idiot, what're you doing up so early?"

He doesn't reply, so she moves around the couch and sits down next to him, placing a hand on his leg. "Hey. Something wrong?"

"I did a search on Rose Tyler," he replies, his tone emotionless, not taking his eyes off the blank spot on the wall that they're fixed to. "Just to be safe. Googled her. Turns out, there've been a few Rose Tylers living in the area in the past few years, but only one blonde one. And look what I found on her." He places the coffee down on the table and pulls his laptop onto his lap; waking up the screen, he turns it towards her.

It's scrolled down to near the bottom of a webpage – at the top of the screen, there's a picture of a woman who resembles Rose but looks to be in her forties, with the name **JAQUELINE ANDREA SUZETTE TYLER **beside it, and a small blurb. And below that is an image which is definitely of Rose herself.

The picture is perhaps a year or two old – her features are nearly the same, if a tad younger, and there's a lightness in her face that she lacks now. An innocence, something of a naiveté. It's the expression of a sheltered girl, a girl who hasn't seen any of the horrors the universe has to offer. She looks heavier nowadays somehow – despite her happiness to be home and her eagerness to return to the Doctor, there's a darkness that lurks behind her eyes, the sad afterimages left behind by tragedy. But in this picture, that weight is gone. Her hair is longer, too, not as obviously bleached and a little less tame, but it's definitely her. To expel any doubt, the name **ROSE MARION TYLER **is displayed beside the photo, followed by a short paragraph which speaks of her life, her mysterious year-long disappearance at age nineteen, and… _wait a minute… _

'_The tragic loss of Rose Tyler and her mother Jackie has come as a shock to friends of the family, and to _– wait a minute again – _Prime Minister Harriet Jones, who regarded Rose as a close personal friend.'_

The Prime Minister? Rose knows the Prime Minister? And, even stranger – tragic loss?

Rhys scrolls up to the top of the page, where an artistically designed banner depicting Canary Wharf – or, as Gwen has come to know it, the former Torchwood Tower – and artist's renditions of the Cybermen, the terrifying metal men who came as ghosts and took over the world a year ago. The sloped cursive words read _**THE BATTLE OF CANARY WHARF, **_and, in much smaller letters underneath, _**LIST OF THE DEAD**_.

Oh, my God.

"She's dead," Rhys confirms. "Rose Marion Tyler. She's been dead for a year now."

"Oh, my God," Gwen murmurs. "But she's not dead, she's in our spare room!"

"Exactly," he agrees, scrolling down again. "She's mentioned once more in the list, hold on – there." He points to an image of a dark-skinned boy, probably around Rose's age, with the name **MICHAEL SMITH **displayed beside it. "Mickey Smith," Rhys says, pointing with the cursor to a point in the blurb at which the boy is referred to as Mickey. "Childhood friend and boyfriend of the also-deceased Rose Tyler," he continues, moving the cursor to where the blurb mentions Rose. "You see, Gwen? That girl sleeping in our guest room shouldn't be here. She's supposed to be dead."

"They never found a lot of the bodies of the people who died at Canary Wharf," Gwen suggests. "Maybe she escaped, and they assumed –"

"Then why hasn't she come back before now?" Rhys points out. "It's been a year, why hasn't she come back and told the world she's not dead? I mean, she's got the bloody Prime Minister on speed-dial – there've got to be plenty of people who mourned her –" He pauses, and switches tracks. "And what about her boyfriend, huh? What about her mother? Are they alive, too, somewhere out there?"

Gwen takes a deep breath. "I do know where she's been for the past year, and why she couldn't come back. And I'm sorry, Rhys, but – I can't tell you."

His head snaps towards her, a frown on his face. "Can't tell me?"

"No," she says. "I'm sorry. Really, I am. It's work stuff, Rhys. Top secret and all that."

"But –"

"No." She shakes her head. "I'm sorry."

"Gwen, have you ever even met her? Before yesterday, I mean."

She sighs. "No. Never seen her before in my life. She just showed up outside the place where we work, and none of us recognized her, but Jack – he just ran outside and hugged the life out of her, and he brought her in and introduced us –"

"But – how do you know she's not – I dunno – a zombie or something?"

Gwen chuckles – zombies, one of the very few things she remains convinced do not exist. "She's not a zombie, Rhys. She's a living, breathing human being, and she's an old friend of Jack's. They go way back. And if Jack trusts her, I trust her. Plus," she sighs, "she's looking for the person she loves. When you love someone the way she loves this man, Rhys, there's no reason in the world that you shouldn't be allowed to be with them. I've got to help her find him."

Rhys is silent for what Gwen knows is only several seconds, but it's drawn out so intensely that it feels like hours. Finally, he says, "But I don't understand, Gwen, why can't you just tell me where she's been? I mean –"

"I was trapped." At the sound of the soft, mellow Cockney accent behind them, both Gwen and Rhys look over their shoulders to see Rose standing in the doorway between the hallway and the living room. Her blonde hair is messy and unkempt and her clothes are rumpled. "For the last year. Trapped far, far away from home, and I can't explain how or why. It's complicated, and you'd never believe me. I've just now managed to get back. I didn't die at Canary Wharf, Rhys, and neither did my mum, and neither did Mickey. We all just got… trapped."

"But now you're back," Rhys states.

"Yeah. Mum and Mickey, they haven't been able to come back with me yet, but they'll be here. Mickey, at least. Dunno about Mum, she's pretty happy where she is. But most of the reason we worked so hard to get back here was for me. So I could find my Doctor again."

Rhys simply nods; after a second, he asks, "Have you phoned the Prime Minister yet, then?"

"Harriet Jones?" A smile blooms on Rose's face. "She's still Prime Minister, then?"

"Not really," he replies. "She sort of lost support, with that whole health thing and all. Elections aren't finished yet. There's this one bloke, Saxon, who seems alright. I'm voting for him."

"I'll look him up," Rose says. "That's a good idea, though, should give Harriet a call, she'll be thinking I'm dead, too – Gwen, how long until we should head to work?"

Gwen shrugs. "Another hour and a half at least. It's early."

Rose nods. "Right. Well, I'll get out of your hair, then. I've got a few calls to make." She pats her pockets, feeling for the two familiar shapes inside them – her cell phone and her dimension cannon. Finding both, she heads out the door of the apartment and leaves the building. Once she's out on the street, she pulls out her phone, dials the number which she remembers belongs to Harriet, and holds her phone against her ear.

Within seconds, the person on the other end picks up, and a familiar, welcome voice comes through the phone: "Harriet Jones, Prime Minister."

Rose suppresses a laugh. "Yes, I know who you are."

There's a pause before Harriet ventures, "This isn't –"

"It's me," Rose interrupts, confirming. "It's Rose Tyler."

Another pause. "My God," Harriet murmurs. "But – how?"

"Meet me for coffee?" Rose suggests. "I'll explain everything."

-0-0-0-

After meeting up with Harriet Jones and explaining exactly how things came to be the way they are, she bids the former Prime Minister farewell and heads off to Torchwood. As she walks into the base, just as she has a thousand times before, she's abruptly seized by the terrible thought that she's back in the other universe, back with her Torchwood, that she's far, far away from her Doctor once again. Or maybe she was never back in her home universe in the first place. Thankfully, these ideas are quickly banished from her mind the second she steps inside, and, from behind the desk, Ianto calls, "Miss Tyler, Jack wants to see you."

_Jack wants to see you._

Good. She's still where she wants to be. There's no Jack on her Torchwood team.

"Right," she says as the walls slides open to reveal the secret passage going down. "I'll see what he wants. Thanks, Ianto."

She misses his reply as she hurries down into the base; the second she steps through the door, she hears an American accented voice calling out, "Hey, where were you?"

"Getting coffee with the Prime Minister," she replies, which earns her a few stares from around the room. "Ianto said you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah," Jack says. "We've got a case. You want in?"

"Sure," she says. "Pass the time until he shows up. What's the case?"

"Probably nothing, honestly," he admits. "An old abandoned dance hall that people have been complaining about hearing music coming from. I was planning on taking Tosh, but she's got better things to be working on, and I figured you might want to help out a bit."

"Well, you weren't wrong," she agrees as he walks to her side and they turn and head back towards the office. "So, in this universe, do you all use that big ridiculous black car?"

"I love that car," Jack says, sounding slightly hurt.

"Not exactly inconspicuous, is it?" she reasons. "I mean, it's got Torchwood written right on it. What if you're trying to fly under the radar?"

"It's a great car," he states defensively.

"Boys and their toys," Rose sighs. "Alright. Conspicuous black van it is. Let's go, Harkness."

-0-0-0-

"The Ritz Dancehall," Jack says, a touch of – is that nostalgia? – in his voice as they step into the lobby. "It's been abandoned since '89, but someone's complained about hear music from the 1940s." He starts up the stairs, but stops short.

"What is it?" Rose asks.

"Shh!" he urges. "Listen."

Rose does, and in the silence, both hear soft, distant, old-fashioned music. She looks up at him, and he grins brightly. "You coming up?" he asks, and heads up the stairs with her just a few steps behind.

Jack opens the door at the top of the stairs and both step inside the room. "Wow! Look at the chandelier." He points. "No neon lights back then." He sways to the music as he steps forward, and then turns, grabs Rose's hand, and pulls her out onto the floor.

"Just dashing young soldiers and pretty young ladies," he says as he dances with her. "And as they danced, the girls would look into their partners' eyes, smile softly, and say…"

He tries to spin her, but she stumbles; laughing, she exclaims, "You were a better dancer in 1941!"

He chuckles. "I was thinking more along the lines of 'how long before you head off to war?'"

They continue across the room, headed towards the large stairs which lead back down to the first floor. There's graffiti on the back wall – her eyes catch on it, widening slightly at the sight of the words **BAD WOLF.**

"There we go again," she murmurs.

"What?" he asks.

"Those words," she says. "Long story. Come on."

They start to head down the stairs, but stop. Sounds of music playing and the chatter and laughter of people are coming from behind them, from the room that they were just in two seconds ago.

The empty room that they were just in two seconds ago.

Turning, they head back up the stairs. Gone are the plastic covers on everything, the useless junk littering the floor. The room is richly decorated and beautiful, and it's filled with people dancing to the music.

"Are they – real?" Rose asks hesitantly.

Jack checks his wrist band. "They're not ghosts. It's a simple temporal shift." He laughs. "And it's beautiful!"

Rose breaks into a grin, looking up at him happily. "So we're really in 1941?"

"Not exactly," he replies. "But for all intents and purposes… yes."

Her grin widens. "Time travel," she sighs. "Oh, I've missed this."

"Come on." He places a hand on her shoulder. "We should go. Can't risk disturbing timelines and all that."

They turn and head back down the stairs, passing couples with their arms around each other heading in the opposite direction.

"What're you wearing, doll?" a soldier asks, looking appraisingly at Rose, who tugs on the hem of her pink hoodie, halfway between self-conscious and defensive.

"Come on," Jack says to her, taking her hand and pulling her with him. "Ignore him."

She goes with him, back down into the lobby and out the front door, past a white-haired man in a cravat holding the door open. "Do call again," he says.

"I would love to," Jack replies emphatically, taking one last look around the lobby before heading out the door, hand-in-hand with Rose.

"It's night!" Rose exclaims the second they're outside, looking around the now-dark street. "It was morning!"

They walk out onto the street; flags are strewn across the roadway and hanging from buildings, and –

"The car's gone," she notes. "Jack, your conspicuous car is gone."

He doesn't reply, simply pushes up his sleeve and checks his wristband.

"I never liked that car," Rose sighs. "You think someone took it? Maybe a Torchwood enthusiast or something, have you got those in this reality? Could've been stolen."

"It hasn't been stolen," Jack says softly, looking over at a poster on the wall, which advertises a **KISS THE BOYS GOODBYE **dance on Saturday, January 20th, 1941. "We have."

-0-0-0-

They head back inside, because that's where they were when they crossed and it seems like the place they'd be most likely to be able to cross back. They stand on the side of the room; Jack blends right in, but Rose sticks out like a sore thumb, wearing a bright pink hoodie over a dark red tank top and dark blue flare jeans. Still she's grinning.

"Back in 1941, then," she says happily, bumping Jack with her shoulder. "When we first met."

"I remember," he agrees. "Flag Girl hanging from a barrage balloon, right?"

"Stop it," she mutters, ducking her head and shielding her face with her hand.

He laughs.

"We can get back, though, right?" she asks.

"Flotsam and jetsam slips through the rift all the time," he says. "We'll get back."

"Maybe we could stay for a little while, though?" she suggests, grabbing his arm and sort of hanging from it as she leans in to him, her expression pleading. "Come on, Jack, I've missed time travel."

"Maybe a little while," he consents, and she squeals excitedly; he shushes her, saying, "People are staring at us. We need to try to blend in."

She glares at him, letting go of his arm. "Easy for you to say. Look at what I'm wearing."

"Don't worry," he says. "You're with the Captain."

Rose rolls her eyes. "Only you, Jack Harkness." Still, she lets him link arms with him as they walk over to the bar.

"_My love is true," _the singer croons from the stage._ "And just for you, I would do most anything at any time…"_

"Water, please, and a brandy," Jack tells the bartender.

"Jack, I'm twenty-two," Rose sighs. "I can drink."

"I'm not going to risk it," he replies. "Too scared of your mother."

She laughs at that, and almost doesn't notice the soldier who walk up to them with his eyes fixed on her.

"I haven't seen you in here before," he says, and she turns to look at him just as the bartender puts the drinks down on the counter.

"I'm not from around here," she tells the soldier, grabbing the glass of water and lifting it towards him. "Cheers, mate."

"Three and six, please, sir," the bartender tells Jack; taking a sip of her water, Rose turns to see him patting his pockets, but finding no money. She looks back to the soldier boy, who's still staring at her. "I'll, er… get them," he offers.

"Thank you," Jack says.

"On one condition," he adds.

"What?"

In response, the boy grabs Rose's hand; she barely has time to put her glass down safely on the counter before he drags her out onto the floor. She lets out a light laugh as he begins to dance with her, and in her sweet voice, the singer calls out, _"Come to me, my melancholy baby…"_

Jack stands at the bar, laughing as he watches them, until a blonde woman steps out in front of him and asks loudly, "Who's the kid George is dancing with?"

The smile drops off his face at the contempt and superiority in the woman's voice – he wants to put her in her place, teach her to talk about the girl he thinks of as a sister with such haughty distaste, but he knows they have to keep a low profile. But his thoughts on the matter all vanish when the ghost of a sound invades his mind.

If he didn't know better, he would've sworn that was Gwen's voice.

He looks around, as though expecting to see the Welsh brunette standing in the crowd somewhere, but there's nothing. When he looks back to Rose, it's clear she heard it, too; she's looking around as well, and when she doesn't see anything, she attempts to step away from the soldier boy, George, but he's not letting go.

So Jack walks up to them and taps George on the shoulder, saying, "Do you mind?"

"I'm only borrowing her, mate," George says.

"Maybe she doesn't want to be borrowed."

"Hey –" Rose begins, but before she can get anywhere, George interrupts, saying, "You want to make something of it?"

"You can always dance with me if you like," Jack reasons, which Rose rolls her eyes at – the man does not change. George doesn't seem to take as kindly to the suggestion, though; he pushes Jack away, but Jack just chuckles and says, "Okay, I'll lead. You follow." He pushes George right back and says, "Come on, Rose."

Rose steps away from George, towards Jack, but before they can get anywhere, George grabs Jack and punches him in the face. The crowd gasps, and Jack turns and pushes George back down to the floor.

"Hey!" Rose grabs Jack's arm. "Aren't we supposed to be blending in?"

George scrambles to his feet, but before he can do anything, a tall, brown-haired man steps between them and says, in a distinct American accent, "Cut it out, kiddo."

The man turns to face Jack and Rose – he's definitely good-looking, of about the same height and build as Jack. "Sorry about that," he says. "The men are a bit lively tonight. It's the last day of OUT tomorrow. Apologize to the gentleman, George."

"I was only dancing," George defends.

"I think it was your fist he didn't like, not your foxtrot," the man reasons, and Rose suppresses a small smile.

George deliberately avoids Jack's eyes as he says, "I'm sorry,"

"It's okay," Jack says. "You barely got me."

"I think the lady also deserves an apology," the man reasons.

"I'm sorry," George repeats.

"S'alright," Rose replies. "No harm done, yeah?" She and Jack turn and walk away as a couple of soldiers lead George away, but the man follows them, and, addressing Jack, asks, "Hey, are you a volunteer, too?"

"Yeah," Jack says; they shake hands, and, in unison, begin, "I'm Captain –"

Abruptly, both stop and laugh, and Jack says, "You go first."

"I'm Captain Jack Harkness," the man says. "133rd Squadron."

-0-0-0-

**Okay, can I just say I'm amazed by the response this fic is getting. Really. You guys are fantastic - the best group of readers a girl could ask for. Honest. **

**So in this chapter we're getting into Torchwood S1 rewrites, and that's where we'll be hanging out in the next chapter as well. Chapter Five is when things will start to get interesting. Fifteen more reviews gets you an early update!**

**Again, thank you so much for reading and supporting this fic. You're amazing and I love you all. Virtual hugs all around!**

**-Caskett54**


	4. Chapter 4

"I should be heading off," Jack says after the man in the cravat made them take a few pictures with 'Captain Jack Harkness'.

"Hey," other-Jack calls out. "I didn't catch your names."

"Rose," Rose says, trying to keep the wariness out of her tone. "Rose Tyler."

"I'm Captain James Harper," Jack lies. "71st."

"71st, that's where I'm hoping to be posted," other-Jack says with a nod. "What's your poison?" He walks towards the bar, gesturing for Jack to come and take the conversation there, but Jack holds back, gesturing to Rose. "Maybe later," he says. "My friend and I were in the middle of something."

"Sure," other-Jack agrees, and heads for the bar while Jack and Rose leave the dance hall.

"Jack, that man's got you name," Rose calls as she follows him. "Why's that man got your name?"

He doesn't answer, and she stops and stomps her foot. "Jack, don't hold back on me!" she cries. "You can trust me, remember?"

Jack stops and turns around, and explains, "It's not my name. It's his. I took his. But I didn't realize he was… so hot!"

He chuckles, and Rose rolls her eyes. "God, Jack, you never change, do you?"

"I try my best not to," he agrees.

"Why did you take his name, then?"

"It's a long story."

"I'm listening."

"Rose, we haven't got time!" A beat. "We have to get back."

Rose nods, accepting the subject as closed; a second later, with just a hint of glee in her voice, she says, "You said your name was Harper. That's Owen and Tosh's last name. Jack, you used _Owen and Tosh's _name."

"Yeah," he replies after a moment. "Wait. Owen _and _Tosh?"

"Well, yeah." She pauses and frowns. "Oh. I take it they're not married here."

"Ah, that would be a no."

"Huh," she huffs. "Owen a doctor and not married to Tosh. This reality is weird."

-0-0-0-

They return to the dance and wait. Jack says that it's okay, Toshiko has formulas for opening and controlling the rift and she should be able to bring them back to the present. There's nothing they can do from here in the past.

So they wait.

They sit on a small couch together and wait.

They wait, and wait, and she doesn't really think of what they _could _do from here in the past until the alarm sounds

The wailing sirens warning of the air raid jog something in her memory, and she sits straight up, her eyes wide. "It's 1941."

"Yeah," Jack agrees slowly.

"Jack, it's _1941." _She grabs his arm, an intense look on her face. "What happened in 1941?"

He seems to understand what she's saying as they stand up, forced to join the crowd being herded into the basement. "Rose –"

"Yeah," she interrupts happily, keeping a hold on his arm so they won't be separated. "I know how we can get back home."

"But we can't."

"Why not?" she demands. "He's practically right next door. We just head over to London, we find him, and we ask him to drop us off back in our time. Easy."

"Rose, timelines –"

"Jack, it's not like I'm going to stay with him," she snorts. "He's already got one me, doesn't need another one. He'll just drop us off at home and be on his merry way. No muss, no fuss."

"But we can't," he insists. "Rose, think about it. The first time you were here, when you met me, do you remember giving yourself and a second me a ride to 2007?"

Rose pauses. "No," she whispers.

"Exactly," he agrees. "We can't."

"But I've got to," she insists. "I want to see him again. The old him. Just once, that's enough, and then I'll go back to looking for my Doctor, but I want to see the old one just one more time."

She's clearly lost him. "The old him?"

"Yeah," she says, oblivious to his confusion. "You know he lost his Northern accent when he changed? I loved that accent. That was a brilliant accent. We used to make fun of him for it, you remember that? And he doesn't say fantastic anymore, prefers stuff like 'molto bene' and – ooh, 'allons-y', he really likes that one now. Great hair, and no more of that old big ears rubbish. He's skinny now, can you imagine that? Skinny. And he wears these suits and this long brown trench coat, never that leather jacket these days – I suppose that makes sense, he's skinnier and it doesn't fit him anymore. And, I mean, I love new him, I really do, but I still miss the old him sometimes. You know what I mean? 'Cause he was my Doctor, my first Doctor, and if I could see him again, just the once –"

"Rose!" Jack interrupts; they've reached the basement, and he drags her to a pair of stools, which they sit down on. "What are you talking about?"

"Huh?" Her eyes widen. "Oh, right! You don't – sorry. He's got this thing he does when he's dying, remember? Regeneration? Didn't I mention that yesterday? Pretty sure I mentioned that."

"You did," he confirms, "but you didn't actually explain it that well."

"Well, every cell in his body changes," she says. "He's got all the same memories, but he looks different. That's what I was saying, he doesn't look like he used to. He's tall and skinny now, and he's got great hair and he's gorgeous, and he wears suits. And Converse. White and red. He likes pushing buttons in the TARDIS with his feet, so you notice. His personality changes, too. He's not as angry anymore. He's a better man. More fun, so optimistic and bright about everything. Very clever, but he doesn't insult species anymore. Well, for the most part, anyway."

Jack frowns. "How does that work exactly, then?"

Rose shrugs. "Dunno. Just does. He sort of – goes like…" She did a weak, under-exaggerated imitation of regeneration, throwing her hands out to her sides and tipping her head back. "And he kind of goes all gold – there's this light, and it sort of explodes out of his head and his hands, and when it fades… he's different."

"Still the same man, though."

"Absolutely."

"But you still want to go and see the old him."

Rose sighs. "It's not that simple, Jack. It really isn't. I love the new him, I really do. I just… can't help but miss the old him sometimes. I'll catch myself wondering how things would have been different if he were still around. Maybe things would've turned out differently, you know? Maybe I never would've gotten separated with him. Maybe I'd be with him now." She sighs. "I don't want to try to change the timelines, Jack. I wouldn't give up the new Doctor for the world. I just want to see him again."

Jack slides his stool about a foot across the floor so he's right next to her and puts an arm around her. "I get it, Rosie," he says. "I – I can still call you Rosie, right? I mean, last time –"

"I was angry," Rose defends. "You said the Doctor wasn't important. But yeah, Jack. You can call me Rosie."

He nods. "Alright then, Rosie. Come here." He hugs her to him with one arm, and she rests a head on his shoulder. "We'll get through this, okay? Tosh will come through. We'll be back in our time before we know it. And then we'll find the Doctor."

"I know," she murmurs. "Just – I know."

They're silent for a few minutes until she whispers, "Do you think he still wants me? I mean, who knows how long it's been for him – maybe he's moved on –"

"Rose Tyler," Jack interrupts firmly. "I haven't even met the new Doctor, but I know for a fact he still wants you. Nothing can change that, you got that? Nothing. Come hell or high water or regenerations or parallel universes or even all of the above, the Doctor will still want you."

She sniffs. "I know," she says quietly. "Well, I mean – yeah, I know. Do you think he's got someone else, though? Not romantically, just someone to travel with him?"

"I don't know."

"I hope he does," she sighs. "He's such a lonely man. That doesn't change. But he's got the entire universe in his debt in one way or another. He should never be lonely. Not ever."

-0-0-0-

It's not until the air raid is over that the rift opens. Every second of waiting is agony for Rose, not because she's desperate to get back, but because she's desperate to stay. She knows Jack is right – she can't go find the Doctor in London, can't cross her own timeline and risk creating a paradox. Seeing the old him one more time isn't worth the destruction of the universe. Well, maybe it is to her. But he'd flay her alive.

She sits with Jack in the basement in silence until Cravat Man comes down and declares that the dancing may continue. So they head back upstairs and sit at the bar and wait until an earsplitting **BOOM **shakes the dance hall. Everyone looks frantically around for the source, the beginnings of panic showing on their faces – they probably think a bomb has dropped. An incredibly bright light shines from the hallway as the rift blasts open.

"Oh, my God!" Rose exclaims, tapping Jack's shoulder as she stands. "Jack, look!"

"I see it," he agrees, standing and taking her hand. "Come on."

But she hesitates. She glances around the dancehall, around the year 1941, because she knows if she leaves now there's a chance she'll never leave her own time again. There's a chance she'll never find her Doctor. It's a small chance, but it's there.

And there's a one hundred percent chance that she'll never see the old Doctor again.

She can't help it. She wants to fold herself against him, rest her head against his sturdy chest, feel the smoothness of the leather of his jacket and his warm arms around her. She wants to breathe in his smell – the new Doctor doesn't smell quite the same – and hear his familiar Northern-accented voice. She wants him to try to impress her again.

But she knows that's one thing she can never have.

"Rose, come on!" Jack urges, tugging her towards the light. "You can't go back and find him here. You'll never see him again unless we go now!"

She closes her eyes and inhales deeply, breathing in the stale air of 1941. "I'll never see him again anyway," she murmurs, and she pictures, in her mind's eye, what he used to look like. That confident, almost arrogant posture, black leather jacket over a dark red shirt. Big ears, big nose. Pale skin and thin dark hair. Ice blue eyes. Crooked smile. Hidden darkness.

She'll never see that version of him again. She let him go a long time ago – damn this year, this whole experience, for bringing him right back into the forefront of her mind. Damn this for reminding her of him. Now she has to let him go again.

So she pushes the old him away and remembers the new him. Tall and skinny, standing with invigorating confidence and easy grace. Brown pinstriped suit and a tie, hands shoved into the pockets. Long brown trench coat nearly brushing the floor. White Converse peeking out from underneath the hems of his trousers. Really, really great hair. Warm chocolate eyes and gorgeous features. The grin that he saved just for her.

"Alright," she whispers, and opens her eyes, but keeps the image of him in her head. "Alright, I'm coming." Hand in hand, with him pulling her forward, they approach the blinding whiteness in the hall. Just as they're about to step inside, Rose glanced back over her shoulder; slowly, one by one, the dancers are fading from view. The entire year of 1941 blurring out around them. She and Jack, they're somewhere in between, one foot in each world. They're in the middle.

And there's nothing for her here.

So, holding on to Jack like a lifeline, she steps into the rift.

Rift travel, she discovers, is absolutely nothing like dimension hopping.

They emerge into an old abandoned dancehall, with graffiti on the walls, rough wood with faded polish, and plastic covers on the furniture. They let go of each other's hands and stumble a few steps forward, trying to regain their balance; Rose catches herself on a wall, and Jack manages to steady himself. He sways where he stands, shaking his head to clear it, and says sarcastically, "Well. That was fun."

Rose leans against the wall, massaging her shoulders; she does feel rather sore and a little bit stiff. "You should try dimension jumping," she tells him. "That's a blast."

"Do you pass out or something?"

"No," she replies. "You just feel like you've been run over by an eighteen-wheeler. Repeatedly."

"How many times have you done it?"

"Oh, loads," she says offhandedly. "Unsuccessful jumps, partially successful jumps, temporarily successful jumps… I was sort of the guinea pig."

"Fun," Jack mutters. "Alright, come on. I need to tell Tosh she's a genius.

"Good idea."

"Oh, and Rose?"

"Yeah?"

Jack hesitates. "Maybe… don't mention the fact that she's married to Owen in your reality?"

Rose chuckles and salutes. "Your wish is my command, Captain."

"Thanks." He extends his arm and she links hers through it, and they walk down the stairs and out of the dance hall, onto the street, where someone is waiting for them.

She's sitting in her car, but as soon as she sees them, Gwen Cooper gets out, rushes over, and throws her arms around Jack. "You made it!" she says ecstatically as Jack hugs her back; he's laughing, but Rose notices tears in his eyes. "You made it, you made it."

After a few seconds, Gwen pulls away from Jack, rushes over to Rose, and envelops her in a hug, drawing a surprised laugh out of the younger girl. "Hi, Gwen."

Gwen pulls away and looks straight into her eyes, a reassured smile on her face. "I'm glad you're okay," she says, sounding very relieved, and turns back to Jack. "Come on, back to the Hub. Tosh is worried that she miscalculated something and you need to reassure her that everything's fine before she has a heart attack."

Jack laughs. "Alright, then. Lead the way."

-0-0-0-

Gwen drives them back to the base, and Jack quickly confirms that yes, everything's fine with Tosh's calculations, and no, the world is not going to end. Still, Tosh insists on running a few tests just to be sure, and no one tries to stop her. Rose isn't sure about this reality, but in Pete's World, Tosh isn't really someone you try to talk out of things. It doesn't work. Maybe a side effect of spending too much time with Owen – he's started to rub off on her. In the other world, that is. Who knows about this one.

God, her life is complicated.

Things were easier when she was just Rose Tyler, the college-dropout shop girl living with her mum. Then she met the Doctor, and she became Rose Tyler, the companion, Rose Tyler, the Bad Wolf, Rose Tyler, the human girl traveling through all of time and space, Rose Tyler, who loves the Doctor. And then came the army of ghosts, and she became Rose Tyler, the girl trapped far away from home, Rose Tyler, Torchwood operative, Rose Tyler, expert on all things extraterrestrial – as he put it, Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth. She became Rose Tyler, the girl trying to get home.

And now…

Now she's not a college-dropout shop girl living with her mum. She's not his companion or the Bad Wolf, and she's certainly not travelling through all of time and space. She's not the girl trapped far away from home or the girl trying to get home. She's far from the Torchwood she works with and surrounded by a Torchwood team that knows far more about aliens that she does. They're the defenders of the Earth here, not her.

So until she finds the Doctor, she's really not sure who she is.

She supposes the only thing left is Rose Tyler, the girl who loves the Doctor.

And if that's who she is now…

…well, that wouldn't be so bad.

She settles into a routine in the next few days. She wakes up in the morning, takes a moment to remember where she is. She checks to make sure that her TARDIS key is still safely on its string around her neck (she sleeps wearing it). Then she lies in bed for twenty minutes just smiling, thinking about just how happy she is to be back, just how much closer she is to the Doctor. She gets the dimension cannon from where it lives overnight on the dresser and checks to make sure she's still got a stable connection, just to be sure it won't freak out and send her back to Pete's World at any moment. Once she's confirmed that, she picks up the clothes that Gwen lent to her the night before and gets dressed, puts her pink hoodie on over whatever shirt she's wearing, and tucks the dimension cannon into her pocket. She writes a note and leaves it on the table if she's awake first (if someone else is up, she'll just tell them she's going out) and walks to the little diner down the street to get breakfast. She uses her own money, not Gwen's – Jack's paying her for helping them out at Torchwood, even though she insists he doesn't have to. She gets a coffee and whatever breakfast food strikes her fancy, eats quickly, and then heads off to Torchwood.

She walks to work every morning. It's not that far, so she doesn't mind, and she likes just… being outside. Being there. In her universe, in her Cardiff. It helps her feel more… present. So she walks.

She normally gets to Torchwood early, because she gets up early. Jack is always there, but normally Ianto, but Gwen and Owen have never arrived by the time she gets there, and Tosh only shows up before her once. Then it's right to work – when they don't have a case, Jack is getting her to help them update their alien databases, filling in information she knows about species she encountered during her travels with the Doctor. When she's not doing that, she's with Tosh, either going through the alien artifacts they've retrieved and identifying any that she recognizes or helping her to understand the dimension cannon. It's harder than it sounds, because Rose herself doesn't understand it all that well, and there's only one there and Rose won't let her take it apart. Still, they do their best.

Once the workday is over, Rose heads out and walks the streets of Cardiff, simply looking. She looks for him, for any sign of him, but all she finds are people, shops, and **VOTE SAXON** posters. When it gets late, she heads out and buys dinner somewhere, and then goes back to Gwen's flat. The Welsh woman helps her choose an outfit for the next day, and then she heads into her room and goes to sleep. Ready for the next day. Just going through the motions, again and again, every day the same but never boring or repetitive. How can it be with Torchwood? And besides, there's more life in Rose Tyler than there has been in a year. Because she's home. Because she's going to find her Doctor. No matter how many of these days she has to go through step by step, no matter how long she has to wait, she's going to find him.

And she does.

Because late one day, not even a week after she arrives, she's standing in the base. Owen, Ianto, and Tosh have already headed home – only she, Jack, and Gwen are still there. They've just finished up with a particularly trying case that very nearly had both Tosh and Gwen in tears at one point or another, and Rose and Gwen have volunteered to stay behind a little late to wrap things up. They're filing reports, going through paperwork, just straightening up, when Jack freezes.

Rose frowns and walks over to him, opening her mouth to ask what's going on, but then she stops, too.

Because she's heard what he heard.

The papers that they've been stacking fly into the air and slide towards the ground, completely out of order, but Rose and Jack don't care. Because they've heard it. The sound of the universe. The beautiful, wonderful, oh-so-familiar sound of some very specific engines.

Jack looks down at her, and simultaneously, both grin widely and break into a run, rushing towards the door and up and out of the base, barely aware of a confused Gwen calling after them. Just then, they both have ears for only one thing.

The sound of the TARDIS.

-0-0-0-

**Here we are, then! The next installment in this story. And you all know what's going to happen next.**

**On a different note, we're almost at 1,500 views! Seriously, you guys are incredible. I never expected a response like this. Thank you so much.**

**Fifteen more reviews gets you the next chapter!**

**-Caskett54**


	5. Chapter 5

"Cardiff!" the Doctor declares brightly as the engine noise fades and the TARDIS materializes.

"Cardiff?" Martha echoes skeptically.

"Ah," he says, "but the thing about Cardiff is that it's built on a rift in time and space. Just like California and the San Andreas fault. The rift _bleeds _energy. Every now and then I need to open up the engines, soak up the energy, and use it as fuel."

"So it's a pit stop," she summarizes.

"Exactly," he agrees.

"Wait a minute," she says. "They had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple years ago. Was that you?"

"Bit of trouble with the Slitheen," he replies. "Long time ago. Lifetimes. I was a different man back then." A bulb on the console lights up. "Finito. All powered up." He glances over at the monitor, and stops.

There's someone on the screen. Someone who really shouldn't be on the screen.

Captain Jack Harkness.

A look of panic begins to grow on the Doctor's face, but it morphs into shock in an instant when the person running beside Jack comes into view.

Average height, pretty face. Prominent cheekbones, upturned nose and warm brown eyes with just a hint of olive green. A shoulder-length sheet of bleached blonde hair. His name on her lips.

No. It can't be.

Everything in his mind is telling him it's impossible. But everything his senses are showing him and the sudden leap of both his hearts are telling him it's her.

"What is it?" Martha calls to him, but he barely hears her as he races away from the console, down the steps, and throws the door open. As soon as he does, the blonde girl's pace picks up, and she runs faster than he's ever seen her run. She passes Jack and speeds away from him, right towards the TARDIS…

And throws herself into his arms.

_Oh, God, it's her. It's really her._

It's completely impossible. But somehow, by some fluke of the universe, some beautiful miracle, it's her.

The force of her embrace propels them both back inside the TARDIS. And as soon as they're inside, though he hates to do it, he lets go of her. Because his instincts as a Time Lord are too powerful to be ignored, and he has to. He has to yank the door closed, run back up to the console, and start the TARDIS.

"Doctor, what're you doing?" she cries, and oh, God, it's her voice. Her _voice. _Her accent, her inflection, her gentle cadences.

He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed her voice.

When he doesn't reply, she runs to him, yelling, "Doctor, you're leaving him behind!" She has her hand out to grab his arm, to get his attention, but before she has the chance, the entire TARDIS lurches to the side, and she's thrown back against the railing

"What's that?" Martha calls out, clinging to the console.

"We're accelerating?" the Doctor replies, more of a puzzled question than a statement. "Into the future. The year one billion. Five billion. Five trillion. Fifty trillion. What? The year one hundred trillion! That's impossible?"

"Why?" Martha demands. "What happens then?"

The Doctor's eyes are wide as he replies, "We're going to the end of the universe."

The TARDIS continues its unstable flight, forcing everyone to hold on tight to whatever's closest to them, until it lands with a thud and the engines fade. "Well," he announces, "we've landed."

"So what's out there?" Martha asks. "And Doctor… who's she?"

Right.

He's convinced himself so well that her return is impossible that he almost forgot that the impossible has happened.

He turns very slowly, because he's sort of afraid that if he looks right at her, she'll be gone. But she's still there. So familiar against the backdrop of the TARDIS. Still holding tightly to the railing. Looking at him with joy and confusion and hurt and something else, something beautiful that he can't quite define, on her face.

"Is it you?" he whispers, stepping towards her with a hand extended cautiously. "Is it really… you?"

A smile appears on her face as she lifts her own hand and wraps it around his, squeezing gently to reassure him that it's real, she's real, she's there.

"It's me," she confirms. "Hello."

"Hello," he chokes, forcing the word out around both a grin and the sudden tightness of his throat. For a moment, they're both frozen in place, their eyes locked, sweet hazel into warm chocolate. Then, finally, they move as one, crashing into each other, each wildly, frantically pulling the other closer, desperate for the perfect compatibility that neither has felt since they were separated. They fit together like puzzle pieces, absolutely, irrefutably made for each other. They stay there, one being rather than two, three hearts beating in unison; he lifts a hand to the back of her head and tangles his fingers in her hair; she buries her face in his shoulder, a grin spreading on her lips.

When they finally break apart, they don't separate completely; he seizes her hand and doesn't let go, holding tight enough to cut off blood flow, but she doesn't complain. She's holding onto him just as tightly.

"So, friend of yours, then," Martha observes. "Hello. Martha Jones."

"Hello, Martha." Rose looks up at the Doctor. "She's been keeping you company, then?"

"Yeah," he agrees.

"That's good," she says. "I'm glad you found someone. You shouldn't have to be lonely."

"It's not that she's replaced you –"

"Doctor, I know." She places her free hand on his arm. "You just… shouldn't have to be lonely, that's all." She turns to Martha, and says, "My name's Rose. Rose Tyler."

Instantly, Martha's eyes widen. "Oh, my God, it's you."

Rose raises an eyebrow and turns to the Doctor, giving him a questioning look; he sighs, and explains, "I've sort of… mentioned you."

"A lot," Martha supplies.

"A few times."

"More than a few."

"Not that often." He sighs again; to Rose, he adds, "It was… hard, talking about you right after I lost you. Gotten easier recently. Martha's helped." He nods to Martha. "Her and Donna together, probably the only reasons I'm still standing here."

"Donna?" Rose echoes questioningly.

"Donna Noble," he clarifies. "Brilliant woman. Didn't know her for that long, just the one adventure and then she went home. Still, fantastic woman. Probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her."

Rose smiles knowingly, leaning her head against the Doctor's shoulder as she murmurs, "You said fantastic."

"I did, didn't I?"

She nods. "Haven't heard you say that in ages. Only ever heard _you _you say that once."

"How's it sound?"

"A little weird in your voice," she reasons. "Hey, you were surprised to see me."

He frowns and nods. "Yeah. Sort of to be expected. You did break through from an alternate reality."

"Haven't checked your messages recently, have you?" Reluctantly, she drops his hand and walks up to the TARDIS console, striding over to the phone and pressing the button to play messages. Suddenly, her voice fills the TARDIS, sounding rather tinny and mechanical coming out of the phone.

"_Doctor," _she hears herself say in a choked, strained voice._ "It's me, it's Rose." _A pause as the Rose on the phone draws a deep, rattling breath._ "I'm here, it's me. I got back. Took me long enough, but I'm here now. And before you think this is some sort of complicated alien trickery or whate –"_

She pauses the message. "You can listen to it later on. It's long, and a bit personal."

"How long ago was this?" he asks, sounding somewhat dumbstruck.

"Just a few days," she replies. "Well, a few days for me. Dunno how long it's been for you. You should really check your messages more."

"You're right," he agrees softly. "I should."

She grins. "Come on, don't feel bad." She bounds down the steps back to him, grabbing hold of his hand again. "I'm here now, yeah? Rose Tyler, right back where she's supposed to be?"

"At the end of the universe?" he asks dryly.

She laughs. "No, on the TARDIS. With the Doctor. But about that, we should probably figure out why we're here and then head back, right? Jack's not going to be happy." Hesitantly, she presses a quick kiss to his cheek. It's brief, far too brief for either's liking, but she can't help but feel a little like she's overstepped, so she pulls away quickly, whispers, "I missed you," and runs out the door.

"So," Martha says, stepping forward with her hands in her pockets. "Rose."

He can't help it; his face splits into a grin. "Yeah."

"You really love her, don't you?" she murmurs.

His gaze flicks around the room; the floor, the console, the Time Rotor, the walls, his shoes, everywhere but her eyes.

"Yeah, you do," she says quietly.

"Martha –" he begins, but before he can get anywhere (not that he knew where he was going at all), the door swings open again and Rose pokes her head in.

"You two might want to come out here," she calls. "Forget about going back for Jack. He came to us."

-0-0-0-

The second they step out onto the bleak landscape, Martha cries out, "Oh, my God!" and drops to the ground next to a handsome brown-haired man in a military coat. "Can't get a pulse," she says. "He's not breathing. Has he been here this whole time?"

"I don't know, do I?" the Doctor replies. "I was inside with you two."

"If he has…" She sits back on her heels, looking sadly up at him. "Doctor, if this is a friend of yours… I'm sorry, there's nothing. He's dead."

"Just give him a second," Rose instructs; Martha gives her a skeptical look, but any doubt vanishes from her face when Jack lets out a loud gasp, grabbing her; in typical Martha fashion, she screams.

"Oh, well, so much for me!" she announces. "It's alright. Just breathe deep. I've got you now."

"Captain Jack Harkness," Jack says, smiling at her. "And who are you?"

"Martha Jones."

"Nice to meet you, Martha Jones."

At the same time, Rose sighs, "Honestly, Jack?" and the Doctor cries, "Oh, don't start!"

"Alright, don't gang up on me," Jack says. "I was just saying hello."

"I don't mind," Martha offers, helping Jack stand; once he's up, he steps away from her, and stares over at the Doctor and Rose. "Doctor."

"Captain," the Doctor replies.

"Good to see you."

"And you," he agrees. "Same as ever… although… have you had work done?"

"You can talk!" Jack objects.

"Oh, yes, the face. Regeneration. How did you know this was me?"

"Rose mentioned that you'd changed," Jack replies. "Described you pretty well. How did you put it?" He looks over at Rose. "Skinny boy in a suit, brown eyes… great hair?"

"Shut up," she mutters, stepping forward and hitting him in the shoulder, semi-lightly.

"The police box kind of gives it away, too," Jack adds. "I've been following you for a long time. You abandoned me."

"Yeah, Doctor, what's with that?" Rose asks. "You told me he was dead, you did."

"Did I?" He frowns. "Busy life. Besides, at the time, I was a bit more worried about you."

"I was fine."

"Rose, you absorbed the time vortex and then you passed out. You were not fine."

"You shut up," she says. "You were worse."

"I was fine."

"It killed you!" she exclaims. Her eyes flick over to the dark-skinned girl standing a few yards away from the group, looking completely confused. "And we've lost Martha."

"Sort of, yeah," Martha agrees. "Absorbed the time vortex?"

"Oh, yeah." Rose nods. "We were facing an army of Daleks, so he sent me home – against my will, mind you – but I got back by taking the entirety of the time vortex into my own mind. Saved his life, I did. 'Course, then he had to go and get himself killed saving mine, but that's not the point."

Martha frowns. "Get himself killed?" she questions.

"He's got this thing he does. Regeneration. When he's dying, he sort of explodes into golden light and when it's over, he's got a new face."

"Every atom in my body changes," the Doctor adds. "I heal myself, end up a new face and a new personality. Bit inconvenient at first, but you get used to it. This is the tenth version of me. The last one had big ears and a Northern accent."

"I liked the last you," Rose defends.

"I don't know. He was a bit violent."

"He did blow up my job," she says fairly.

"I'm never going to hear the end of that, am I?"

"Probably not," she admits, a grin spreading across her face as she grabs his hand and squeezes, leaning against his shoulder. "Now, Doctor, are we going to head back to Cardiff, or are we going to investigate here?"

"Is that a question?" he shoots back. "Come on, you lot. Let's take a tour of the end of the universe."

So they walk.

Rose and the Doctor walk at the front, and he tells her about all the adventures that she's missed – meeting Shakespeare, Daleks in Manhattan, a spaceship flying straight towards a sun. She doesn't seem bothered that he's gone on without her – on the contrary, she seems relieved, like she'd been hoping that he would find a way to go on. A few yards behind them, Jack is telling Martha his life story, all the tales Rose has already heard from him, all about getting stuck on Satellite Five, trying to get back to the 21st century but missing and ending up in 1869, that sort of thing. Rose isn't paying much attention to him. She's heard it all before, and besides, she cares a whole lot more about the man walking beside her.

Eventually, they come upon a deep canyon that looks as though it might have once held some sort of a city, a city carved into the rock walls of the chasm.

"Is that a city?" Martha asks curiously as she and Jack join the Doctor and Rose at the edge of the cliff.

"A city or a hive," the Doctor replies. "Or a nest. Or a conglomeration. Looks like it was grown. But look there. That's pathways, roads… must have been some sort of life. Long ago."

"What killed it?" Martha questions.

"Time," he says. "Just time. Everything's dying now. All the great civilizations have gone – not even the Time Lords made it this far. This isn't just night. All the stars have burned up and faded away into nothing."

"It must have an atmospheric shell," Jack reasons. "We should be frozen to death."

"Well, Rose, Martha, and I, maybe," the Doctor replies. "Not so sure about you, Jack."

"What about the people?" Martha asks. "Does no one survive?"

"I suppose we have to hope," he says. "Life will find a way."

"Well, he's not doing too bad," Jack offers, pointing across the barren landscape at the distant figure of a running man. For a moment, they all just peer at him, until a large group of figures comes running after him, yelling and carrying torches and weapons. The man, it seems, isn't just running – he's running for his life.

"You were saying, Jack?" Rose asks.

"Is it me, or does that look like a hunt?" the Doctor points out. He starts to run towards the man, still hand in hand with Rose, just like old times. "Come on!"

As they run, hands clasped tightly together, Jack and Martha just behind him, Rose looks up at the Doctor with a grin on her face and asks, "Is it bad that I've really missed this?"

"Not at all," he replies brightly; he squeezes her hand as he replies, "I have, too."

A few moments later, they reach the man, and Jack gets a hold of him, saying, "I've got you."

"We've gotta run!" the man exclaims. "They're coming! They're coming!"

Jack passes the man to the Doctor, who catches him with his free hand, and pulls out his revolver, aiming it at the oncoming hunters.

"Jack, don't you dare!" the Doctor yells out, and Jack lifts his arm and fires one shot into the air; abruptly, the entire crowd of people stops. Only they're close enough for it to be apparent that they aren't quite people.

"Doctor," Rose says softly. "What are they?"

"There's more of them," the man says. "We've got to keep going."

"I've got a ship nearby," the Doctor says. "It's safe. It's not far, just over there." He looks back the way they came, only to see more of the not-quite-people amassing there. "Or maybe not."

"We're close to the silo," the man tells them. "If we get to the silo, then we're safe."

The Doctor glances from Rose to Jack and Martha and back to Rose. "Silo?"

"Silo," Rose agrees.

"Silo," Jack echoes.

"Silo for me!" Martha offers, putting up a hand.

The man leads the way as they run like hell towards a structure which must be the silo he was talking about. The not-people aren't far behind them, and in spite of – or perhaps because of? – the danger of the situation, Rose can't help but let out a joyous laugh as she runs, connected to the Doctor through clasped hands, just like old times. She really has missed this.

It isn't long before they arrive at a gated area with several watchtowers and guards with guns. "It's the Futurekind!" the man yells as they run towards the silo. "Open the gate!"

"Show me your teeth!" a guard demands, stepping up to meet them; they all stop running abruptly so as not to crash into the gate, but Martha's momentum nearly carries her forward into it; Jack manages to grab her arm and pull her back. "Show me your teeth!" the guard insists. "Show me your teeth!"

"Show them your teeth," the man beside them instructs.

Puzzled, the Doctor complies, gritting his teeth and spreading his lips; after a moment's hesitation, Rose follows suit, and Martha and Jack comply after her.

"Human," the guard decrees. "Let them in! Let them in!"

Another guard steps forward and unlocks the padlocked chain holding the gate closed. He opens it just wide enough for them to slip through, and one by one – the man first, then the Doctor and Rose (still clasping each other's hands), then Martha, then Jack – they all run inside.

"Close! Close! Close!" the first guard bellows, and the other guards rush to get the gate closed and locked again before the not-people – the Futurekind, the man called them – get through. The first guard fires his gun at the ground in front of the Futurekind, and they stop.

"Humans," one of the Futurekind – who seems to be the leader – drawls. "Humani. Make feast."

"Go back to where you came from," the guard instructs. "I said go back!" He lifts his gun and aims it at them. "Go back!"

"Oh, you don't tell him to put down his gun," Jack comments.

"He's not my responsibility," the Doctor replies.

"And I am?" Jack scoffs. "That makes a change."

"Kind watch you," the head Futurekind rasps. "Kind hungry." He signals to the others, and they back away.

"Thanks for that," the Doctor says to the guard.

"Right," the guard agrees. "Let's get you inside."

"My name is Padrafet Shafekane," the man says, getting the guard's attention. "Please tell me, can you take me to Utopia?"

"Oh, yes, sir," the guard replies. "Yes, I can."

-0-0-0-

**And finally, we have the Doctor! Hooray! An important note: this is a Doctor/Rose fic, but Martha is respected. I have nothing against her character and I actually really loved her when she came back in Series 4. I won't write her as spiteful or childish, because I do think she's better than that, even if it did sort of feel like she was trying to fill the gap Rose left but she could never quite manage it. I request that people please refrain from engaging in Martha-bashing in the reviews. That being said, I would love to hear what you guys think about this story so far, so please leave your feedback in the review box down there.**

**On a more personal note, I know I've said it before, but thank you all so much for your support of this fic. This might sound a bit corny, but it's true - I'm going through a pretty trying time right now, but coming home to see all of your reviews in my inbox never fails to bring a smile to my face. Thank you so much - you're all brilliant and you always manage to make my day.**

**As always, drop a review in the little box down yonder, and when we get fifteen new ones, you'll get the next update!**

**-Caskett54**


	6. Chapter 6

The guard leads them underground into the silo and passes them off to a curly-haired boy who can't be more than ten. He leads them down the corner, calling out for Kistane and Beltone Shafekane, the names given to him by Padrafet; eventually, they find each other, the boy goes back to work, and the Doctor, Rose, Jack, and Martha keep wandering down the corridor. They stop by a door, which the Doctor sets about examining; as they stand there, a good-looking man passes them, and Jack steps out and holds his hand out to him. "Captain Jack Harkness," he greets, shaking the man's hand. "And who are you?"

"Stop it," the Doctor calls out, not looking up from what he's doing, which happens to be trying to get the door open with his sonic screwdriver. "Give us a hand with this." Reluctantly, Jack steps away from the man and joins the Doctor, Rose, and Martha around the door. "It's half deadlocked," the Doctor tells him. "See if you can overwrite the code." Jack sets the work on the keypad, the Doctor continues to use his sonic, and after a while, they hear the lock clicks. "Let's find out where we are," he declares.

The door slides open, and Rose – who is standing in the center of the doorway – very nearly falls forward into the real 'silo'.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" The Doctor jumps forward, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. "I've got you." She lands against his chest and stays there for a moment, in his arms, her head resting beneath his chin, before pulling just an inch away and looking up. "Hello," she says, a sound which is half-word, half-little laugh.

"Hello," he replies, grinning down at her.

"Save the flirting for later, you two," Jack calls.

"Oi, you can talk!" the Doctor protests as Rose untangles herself from him, gently pulling away and coming to stand beside him. One of her hands finds his again, her fingers sliding into the gaps between his and locking there. It's like she needs to touch him. He understands – he feels exactly the same. Like if he's out of physical contact with her for more than a few seconds, she'll fade away. He'll lose her again. With her other hand, she smooths down her clothes almost awkwardly, barely noticing what the silo she nearly fell into contains until Martha comments, "Now _that _is what I call a rocket."

Rose looks up, and finds that Martha's right – that is certainly quite a rocket. A rather large one at that, too. Bloody enormous.

"They're not refugees," the Doctor says. "They're passengers."

"Padrafet said something about Utopia," Rose remembers.

"The perfect place," he says. "One hundred trillion years, it's still the same old dream. Do you recognize those engines?"

"Don't look at me," she says. "I'm not Tosh. Jack?"

"Nope," he replies. "Whatever it is, it's not rocket science. It's hot, though."

"Boiling," the Doctor agrees. They step back out of the way and Jack closes the door. "But if the universe is falling apart, what does Utopia mean?"

Suddenly, an elderly man runs up to them, coming to stand in the center of their group; he barely glances at Rose and Martha, simply looks back and forth unsurely between Jack and the Doctor. Finally, he settles on Jack, and asks, "The Doctor?"

"That's me," the Doctor corrects.

The elderly man doesn't explain himself, simply takes the Doctor's free hand and leads him - and, indirectly, Rose, who is still holding his other hand – down the hallway, muttering, "Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good."

The Doctor looks back over his shoulder at Jack and Martha. "It's good, apparently."

Jack and Martha exchange a puzzled, almost dubious look, but after a second, they follow, trailing along behind the man, the Doctor, and Rose.

They walk through the corridors – the man introduces himself as some sort of professor on the way over – until they reach a sort of science lab, where a very blue, obviously alien woman is waiting. "Chan – welcome – tho," she greets the man, the Doctor, and Rose, earning herself a few strange looks.

"This is the gravitissmal accelerator," the professor says, showing the Doctor the machine in question. "It's part of the…" He trails off.

"Chan – welcome – tho," the woman says again, this time to Jack and Martha.

"And over here is the footprint impellor system. If you know anything about end-time gravity…" He fades again.

"Hello," Martha greets the blue woman. "Who are you?"

"Chan – Chantho – tho," she replies.

"But we can't get it to harmonize!" the professor complains.

"Captain Jack Harkness," Jack says, holding his hand out to Chantho.

"Stop it," the Doctor warns.

"Can't I say hello to anyone?"

"Chan – I do not protest – tho," Chantho puts in, blushing slightly.

"Maybe later, Blue." He winks at her. "So, what have we got here?" He walks over to the Doctor, Rose, and the elderly man; Martha follows behind him, though she seems more interested in his bag than the machines.

"And all this feeds into the rocket?" the Doctor asks the professor.

"Yes," the professor replies, "except without a stable footprint we'll never achieve escape velocity. If only we could harmonize the five impact patterns and unify them, well, we might yes make it. What do you think, Doctor? Any ideas?"

"Well, um, basically…" The Doctor frowns. "Sort of… not a clue."

"Say that again," Martha instructs as Jack heads for a small sitting area in the corner of the lab. "That's rare." Without waiting for a response, she heads over to join Jack in the sitting area.

"Nothing?" the professor asks.

"I'm not from around these parts," the Doctor apologizes. "I've never seen a system like it. Sorry."

"No, no, I'm sorry." He looks dejected. "It's my fault. There's been so little help."

In the sitting area, Martha is examining Jack's bag; reaching inside, she locates the source of the odd noise she's been hearing from it, and pulls out a bubbling glass container with a hand inside.

"Oh, my God," she announces, setting the hand on the table; curious, the others come over. "You've got a hand. A hand in a jar. A hand in a jar in your bag."

"That's –" The Doctor frowns. "That's my hand!"

"I said I had a Doctor detector," Jack agrees.

"Chan – is this a tradition amongst your people – tho?" Chantho questions.

"Not on my street," Martha replies. "What d'you mean, that's your hand? You've got both your hands, I can see them."

"Long story," he says. "I lost my hand Christmas Day. In a swordfight."

"On the outside of a spaceship," Rose adds helpfully. "Hundreds of feet above London. Got it cut off. I was there."

"What?" Martha demands. "And you grew another hand?"

"Um, yeah. Yeah, I did. Yeah." He tries to lift his regenerated hand, but quickly discovers it's clasped together with Rose's; reluctantly, he untangles it, holds it up, wiggles his fingers at Martha, says, "Hello," and goes back to holding Rose's hand.

"Might I ask what species you are?" the professor ventures.

"Time Lord," the Doctor replies. "Last of. Heard of them? Legend or anything?" He gets no response from Chantho and the man except for twin blank looks. "Not even a myth?" Still, nothing. "Blimey, end of the universe is a bit humbling."

"Chan – it is said that I am the last of my species, too – tho," Chantho puts in

"Sorry, what was your name?"

"My assistant and good friend, Chantho," the professor says. "A survivor of the Malmooth. This was their planet, Malcassairo, before we took refuge."

"That city outside," the Doctor remembers. "That was yours?"

"Chan – the conglomeration died – tho."

"Conglomeration!" he exclaims brightly. "That's what I said!"

"You're supposed to say sorry," Jack advises.

"Oh, yes." He puts on a serious face. "Sorry."

"Chan – most grateful – tho."

"You grew another hand?" Martha demands, still hung up on that.

Again, he pulls his hand from Rose's and wiggles his fingers at Martha. "Hello again. It's fine. Look. Really, it's me." He holds out his hand and wiggles his fingers again.

"Don't worry," Rose tells her. "Freaked me out a bit, too, at first."

Martha laughs nervously and shakes his hand. "All this time and you're still full of surprises."

He clicks his tongue and winks at her before pulling his hand back and wrapping it around Rose's again.

"Chan – you are most unusual – tho," Chantho comments.

"Well…"

"So what about those things outside?" Jack asks. "The Beastie Boys. What are they?"

"We call them the Futurekind," the professor explains. "Which is a myth in itself, but, uh, it is feared they are what we will become. Unless we reach Utopia."

"And Utopia is…" The Doctor trails off, waiting for him to finish the sentence.

"Oh, every human knows of Utopia," the professor says. "Where have you been?"

"Bit of a hermit."

"A hermit with friends?"

"Hermits United," he explains. "We meet up every ten years. Swap stories about caves. It's good fun… for a hermit." Rose huffs a laugh, and he grins at her briefly before turning back to the professor. "So, um, Utopia?"

The professor crooks his finger and walks over to a computer; they all stand and follow him, somehow managing to all fit around the screen, which shows a navigational chart with a blinking red dot.

"The call that came from across the stars over and over again," the professor says. "Come to Utopia. Originating from that point."

"Where is that?" the Doctor asks.

"Oh, it's far beyond the Condensate Wilderness," he replies. "Out towards the wild lands and the dark matter reefs. Calling us in. The last of the humans. Scattered across the night."

"What's out there, d'you think?" Rose asks, sounding curious and just a little bit awed as she leans just an inch closer to the screen, as though she thinks that through proximity to the chart depicting the origin of the signal, she might glimpse Utopia itself.

Not that she'd want to go. She has everything she wants right here.

"I don't know," the professor replies. "Miss…?"

"Rose," she fills in.

"Miss Rose," he repeats. "I don't know. A colony, a city, some sort of haven? The Science Foundation created the Utopia Project thousands of years ago to preserve mankind – to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself. Now perhaps they found it. Perhaps not. But it's worth a look, don't you think?"

"'Course," Rose agrees, just as the Doctor says, "Oh yes. And the signal keeps modulating, so it's not automatic. There's a good sign. Someone's out there. And that's… ooh, that's a navigation matrix, isn't it? So you can fly without stars to guide you." He glances over at the professor and seems to notice the dazed, distracted expression that glazes over his face. "Professor? Professor?"

He snaps out of it all of a sudden. "I – right, that's enough talk. There's work to do. Now, if you could leave, thank you." He begins to walk away.

"You alright?" Rose calls warily after him.

"Yes, I'm fine!" he replies. "And busy!"

"Except that rocket's not going to fly, is it?" At the Doctor's words, the professor stops short. "This footprint mechanism thing, it's not working."

"We'll find a way!" the professor says passionately.

"You're stuck on this planet," the Doctor continues. "And you haven't told them, have you? That lot out there, they still think they're gonna fly."

"Well, it's better to let them live in hope."

"Quite right, too," the Doctor agrees. "And I must say, professor…" He drops Rose's hand, pulls off his coat, passes it to Jack, and takes out his sonic screwdriver. "Um, what was it?"

"Yana," the professor replies.

"Professor Yana," the Doctor says. "This new science is well beyond me, but all the same, a boost reversal circuit, in any time frame, must be a circuit which reverses the boost. So, I wonder, what would happen if I did this?" On the word 'this', he picks up the circuit and uses the sonic screwdriver on it. After just a few seconds, the power comes on.

"Chan – it's working – tho!" Chantho cries.

"But how did you do that?" Yana demands.

"Oh, we've been chatting away, I forgot to tell you." The Doctor tucks his screwdriver back into his pocket, takes hold of Rose's hand again, and splits into a wide grin. "I'm brilliant."

-0-0-0-

**We didn't quite reach fifteen reviews last chapter. Sigh. But I'm feeling generous today. Be grateful. We'll set the bar a little lower... ten reviews for a new chapter?**

**Also, I have a request, and that request is PROMPTS! Seriously, guys, I wanna write one-shots. Send me ALL of your prompts and if we make it to ten reviews, not only will I upload a new chapter, but I will select a lucky winner from the prompts and I'll write a one-shot especially for you guys! Because I love you that much. **

**Another thing - I'm officially on tumblr! My name in that magical land of geek is _ghosts-with-just-voices. _I haven't posted much, but I did do a Doctor Who GIF challenge which turned out to be extremely amusing. Follow me. I will post awesome Doctor Who stuff. And it'll make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Warm and fuzzy authors write cute and fluffy fics!**

**In all seriousness, though, please do take a few seconds to leave a review. I won't ask for an intelligent review - I know that for some members of the human race (probably none of you guys, Whovians tend to be pretty intelligent), that's asking a lot. But it doesn't take long to type up a few thoughts in that there little box. And then I'll be happy. And you'll get new chapters and prompt fics and spastic Matt GIFS and I will compose a song on the ukulele in your honor.**

**Love you!**

**-Caskett54**


	7. Chapter 7

"How long have you been with the Professor?" Martha asks Chantho curiously as they work, rewiring the cables on the far side of the lab.

"Chan – seventeen years – tho," Chantho replies.

"Blimey," she exclaims. "A long time."

"Chan – I adore him – tho."

Martha nods. "Oh, right, and he –"

"Chan – I don't think he even notices – tho," Chantho blurts, blushing.

"Tell me about it," Martha mutters, glancing over at the Doctor out of the corner of her eye.

"Chan – but I am happy to serve – tho."

"Do you mind if I ask?" Martha begins. "Do you have to start every sentence with 'chan'?"

"Chan – yes – tho."

"And end every sentence with…"

"Chan – tho – tho," Chantho finishes.

"What would happen if you didn't?" Martha inquires.

"Chan – that would be rude – tho!" she exclaims.

"What, like swearing?"

"Chan – indeed – tho."

"Go on, just once," Martha suggests."

Chantho quickly becomes quite flustered, shaking her head. "Chan – I can't – tho!" she insists nervously.

"Oh, do it for me," Martha urges.

Chantho takes a deep breath, steels herself, and says very quickly, "No." Instantly, she dissolves into nervous giggles. Martha grins and glances back towards the center of the lab; the smile drops off her face when she catches Rose looking at her. She half expects the blonde girl to look away the second she sees that she's been noticed, but she doesn't. She just stands there, watching, with something close to sadness on her face.

"Give me a minute," Martha tells Chantho, and puts down the cable she had been working with and walks away. Rose sees her and steps away from the Doctor, walking over to the empty sitting area with Martha close behind her.

"You too, huh?" she asks softly, sitting down and motioning to the space beside her.

"Not sure what you mean," Martha says, taking a seat beside her, although she knows perfectly well what Rose is talking about.

"The Doctor," Rose clarifies. "It's always the Doctor, isn't it? There's just something about him." She looks across the room and watches him, a sad but loving smile on her lips and a thousand different memories swimming in her eyes. "Makes him so easy to fall in love with."

Martha doesn't reply. She stays silent, working through the other girl's words, trying to come up with something to say to that, but nothing comes. Her lips remain stubbornly sealed.

"It was harder with the old him," Rose continues nostalgically. "When I met him for the first time, he was… different. Colder and cynical. The vengeful, battle-hardened warrior, the Oncoming Storm. He was so much more closed off, so much harder to love." She gives a small laugh. "Managed it anyway, though, didn't I?" She smiles softly. "I was never very obvious about it. Never did that much to let him know. But you." She turns and looks right at Martha. "It's different with you. It's simpler. Not complicated like it was with me. You love him, and that's all there is to it."

Martha's silent, and Rose continues. "Don't you, though? The way you look at him sometimes… it's the same way I used to."

"The same way you still do," Martha replies quietly, avoiding Rose's eyes. "Yeah. I love him."

"There," Rose says. "Different from me. I could never admit it. Not until it was too late." She pauses. "Does he…"

"No." Martha shakes her head. "Doesn't even notice. Sometimes, he…" She trails off, and Rose leans forward curiously. "What?"

"Sometimes… he looks at me," Martha forces herself to finish. "And I get the feeling that… that he doesn't even see me." She pauses, and turns to look Rose right in the eyes. "All he sees is you."

"I'm sorry," Rose whispers.

"S'alright," Martha replies. She inhales deeply, and says, "I hate you sometimes, you know that?" She shakes her head slowly. "It's stupid and it's selfish and it's shallow, but I do. 'Cause of the look he gets when he talks about you, how he looks right through me 'cause I'm not you. And now, the way he looks at you." She pauses, looking down at the floor. "I want him to look at me like that."

"I'm sorry," Rose repeats.

"It's not your fault," Martha says. "Well, it sort of is… but it's not." She sighs. "I can't make him love me. Especially not now. With you around, he'll never look at me twice." She lifts her hand and brushes her fingers across her lower lip, remembering the day she met him, in the hospital on the moon. Remembering his kiss.

The gesture is not missed by Rose; she tilts her head to the side and asks softly, "Have you ever kissed him?" Surprisingly, there is no jealousy in her tone.

"Sort of," Martha admits. "Once. First time I met him. He kissed me, really, but it – it didn't mean anything. Some sort of facial genetic transfer or something. These aliens were searching the hospital for nonhumans, and when he kissed me, it transferred just enough of his DNA onto me to confuse them when they scanned me, to buy him time." She shrugs. "I dunno. I don't understand half the things that come out of his mouth."

"You understand half?" Rose nods. "That's impressive."

Martha laughs softly in spite of herself; after a moment, she asks curiously, "Have you kissed him?"

Rose frowns and tips her head from side to side. "Ah… sort of. Not exactly. Kind of. It wasn't me. I was possessed by a bitchy trampoline."

Martha's eyes widen. "Excuse me?"

"The Lady Cassandra O'Brien," Rose groans. "The 'last human'. She had so much surgery done to keep herself alive for thousands of years that she ended up just a face on a sheet of skin. God, she hated me."

"And she possessed you?"

"Yup," Rose confirms. "Her mind controlling my body. She kissed him."

"But you didn't mind."

"Not that part, no," she agrees. "Funny, though, that was in a hospital, too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she says. "Big hospital on New Earth."

"Oh, we went there!" Martha interrupts. "He took me to the slums! And I got kidnapped by a couple who'd been driving for years on end. Fun times."

Rose laughs. "Wow. That's so like him."

"Isn't it, though?" Martha smiles.

"Where else has he taken you?" Rose questions.

"Oh, loads of places," Martha replies. "Met Shakespeare, that was fun. Went undercover for three months in 1913. Less fun. Trapped on a spaceship that was about to crash into a sun. Daleks taking over Manhattan in the 1930s. What about you?"

"First trip," Rose says. "End of the world in the year five billion. Actually, that's where we met Cassandra. After that, Charles Dickens, Christmas of 1869. Aliens in Downing Street. The London Blitz. Daleks on a game show satellite. Planet orbiting a black hole. Daleks and Cybermen in London."

"I remember that," Martha puts in. "The Battle of Canary Wharf last year. He mentioned he was there."

"Yeah," Rose agrees; the smile is gone from her voice, replaced by the soft tone from earlier in the conversation. "That's when he lost me."

Martha falls silent, the smile dropping off her face. Of course Memory Lane would inevitably bring up bad memories for a girl – woman, really – who's lost so much. "Sorry," she whispers.

Rose just nods. For a few minutes, neither speaks. Finally, she says, "Look, Martha. I like you well enough. You're sweet, you're clever, and you're good for him. And I understand. I really do. He's a good man, a brilliant man, and he's so, so easy to fall in love with." She laughs quietly. "I should really be jealous of you, shouldn't I? Or protective, or resentful. But I'm not. I understand. 'Cause I used to be you. But you've got to understand, too." She takes a deep breath and says, softly but firmly, "I will never, ever stop loving him."

Martha nods, a sad expression on her face. "Good match, then," she says quietly. "He never stopped loving you."

Again, they sit in silence, both watching the Doctor and occasionally each other. Rose brushes a few strands of bleach-blonde hair out of her face and tucks them behind her ear, fully exposing the sharp angles of her jawline, the gentle hollow of her cheek, the prominences of her cheekbones, the fullness of her lips. The sadness in her eyes. Deep, irreversible sadness, sadness that comes with the loss of something that meant the world and more to you. Sadness that imprints itself upon your mind, imbues itself in your consciousness. The sort of sadness that can never be erased.

The Doctor said she was twenty-one. She looks years older.

"You have old eyes," Martha murmurs without really thinking about it.

Rose breathes a soft laugh. "Yeah," she agrees quietly. "Seen too much, I guess. You'll be the same one day."

"That's assuming I'm going to keep on traveling with him," Martha points out.

Rose frowns, turning to look at her. "Well, why wouldn't you?"

Martha shrugs. "I dunno. I just thought – with you back, he might not want me around anymore."

"Martha, don't be daft," Rose says. "This is the Doctor we're talking about. He will always want you around." She smiles slightly. "It's a big ship. Room enough for all."

"What's the point?" Martha asks. "He doesn't love me. He's never going to."

"The point," Rose replies firmly, "is to travel the universe. To see the stars! Defeat aliens, save civilizations!" She draws in and blows out a few deep breaths. "Trust me, Martha," she says, speaking now as the voice of experience. "It's not something you can go back to a normal life after."

Martha sighs. "I don't know."

"Trust me," Rose repeats. "Hey, think of it this way. There's someone out there for you, you've just got to find them. And all of time and space, that's a much bigger pool than one lousy planet, right?"

Martha gives a short laugh. "Right," she murmurs, getting up. "It was nice to meet you, Rose Tyler."

Rose nods. "Same to you, Martha Jones."

-0-0-0-

"God's sake!" Professor Yana exclaims as his video connection with Atillo flickers off again. "This equipment! Needs rebooting all the time!"

"Anything I can do?" Martha offers.

"Yes, if you could," he replies, getting up so Martha can have his seat. "Just press the reboot key every time the picture goes out."

"Certainly, sir," she says, sitting down. "Just don't ask me to do shorthand."

"_Are you still there?"_ comes Atillo's voice from the screen.

"Ah, present and correct," Yana calls to him. "Send your man inside. We'll keep the levels down from here."

After a second, Atillo tells them, _"He's inside. And good luck to him."_

"Captain," Yana says to Jack, "keep the levels below the red."

"Where is that room?" the Doctor asks.

"It's underneath the rocket," Yana replies. "Fix the couplings and the footprint can work. But the entire chamber is flooded with stet radiation."

Rose frowns, looks up at the Doctor, and asks softly, "Doctor, what – what's stet radiation?"

"No idea," he tells her. "Never heard of it."

"You wouldn't want to," Yana says gravely. "But it's safe enough. We can hold the radiation back from here."

They all watch the monitor as the man in the white hazmat suit works on the couplings; suddenly, an alarm begins to sound.

"It's rising," Yana notes. "0.2… Keep it level!"

"Yes, sir!" Jack replies.

More alarms start to go off, and Chantho cries out, "Chan – we're losing power – tho!"

"Radiation's rising!" the Doctor agrees.

"We've lost control!" Jack yells.

"The chamber's going to flood," Yana murmurs.

"Jack!" the Doctor calls. "Override the vents!"

"_Get out!"_ yells Atillo. _"Get out of there! Jate!"_

Jack takes hold of two live cables and shouts, "We can jump start the override!" He jams the cables together as the Doctor yells, "Don't! It's going to flare!"

He's too late, though: Jack screams as the power courses through him, and everyone else watches helplessly as he falls to the floor.

"_Jate, get out of there!" _Atillo cries. _"Get out!"_

On the monitor, the suit crumples to the floor; the body within it has disintegrated.

"_No!"_

"Jack!" Rose cries, rushing over to him and dropping to the floor. "Oh, my God, Jack!"

"Chan – don't touch the cables – tho," Chantho advises, carefully pushing said cables aside.

"Rose," the Doctor says softly, coming up behind her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "You know he can't –"

"I know," she replies. "He told me. But still, he – he's –" She swallows. "Wait. How did you know?"

"Out of my way," Martha urges, hurriedly kneeling beside Jack. "I've got him."

"Martha –" Rose begins.

"I'm a doctor," Martha tells her, clasping her hands together as she gets ready to perform CPR. "Well, a medical student. But I know what I'm doing. Move!"

Rose obliges, moving aside as Martha places her hands on Jack's chest and begins CPR.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Yana says, approaching Jack.

"The chamber's flooded with radiation, yes?" the Doctor asks as Martha starts rescue breathing on Jack.

"Without the couplings, the engines will never start," Yana despairs. "It was all for nothing!"

"Oh, I don't know," the Doctor reasons. He steps forward, gently grasping Martha's arm and pulling her up. "Martha, leave him."

"You've gotta let me try," Martha tells him.

"Come on," he urges. "Come on. Just listen to me. Now leave him alone." Martha shoots a frantic, confused look at Rose, who calmly nods agreement. Though she still looks skeptical, Martha consents, stepping away from Jack as the Doctor continues, "It strikes me, Professor, you've got a room a man can't enter without dying. Is that correct?"

"Yes," Yana confirms.

"Well…" Suddenly, Jack gasps for breath, very much alive; the Doctor removes his glasses and says, "I've got just the man."

Same old Jack: as he lies on the floor, glancing around at the people standing over him, he demands, "Was someone kissing me?!"

-0-0-0-

**HOLY FRACKING MUSHROOMS EIGHTEEN REVIEWS. I should never have doubted you guys, you're fantastic. Thanks so much.**

**Thank you all for the prompts you sent in. You can still send me more if you want, I haven't chosen one to write yet. Because we got so many reviews, I might even write two. So keep on sending them in. As usual, fifteen reviews gets you a new chapter!**

**I love you all. The ukulele song is in the works.**

**-Caskett54**


	8. Chapter 8

Jack and the Doctor race through the silo, both with long coats flapping out behind them; when they reach the control room, they run past Atillo, and the Doctor yells, "Lieutenant, get onboard the rocket! I promise, you're gonna fly!"

"The chamber's flooded!" Atillo exclaims.

"Trust me," the Doctor insists. "We've found a way of tripping the system. Run!" Atillo obeys, dashing away, and the Doctor turns to see Jack starting to remove his shirt. "What are you taking your clothes off for?"

"I'm going in," Jack states

"Well," the Doctor reasons, "by the looks of it, I'd say that stet radiation doesn't affect clothing, only flesh."

"I look good, though," Jack counters, heading for the room full of radiation. He stops abruptly at the door, looks back at the Doctor, and asks, "How long have you known?"

"Ever since I ran away from you," the Doctor replies solemnly. "Good luck."

Jack enters the room, closes the door quickly behind him, and heads straight for the couplings as the Doctor watches from the window.

-0-0-0-

"He really can't die, then?" Martha asks in disbelief.

Rose shrugs. "Dunno. I guess. That's what he said."

"How does something like that happen?"

"Search me," she replies. "I've got no idea. It just did."

Martha simply nods acceptance, and is silent for a moment, until Rose asks, "So, tell me what the Doctor's been up to while I've been gone."

"Where should I start?"

Rose purses her lips. "New Earth. Tell me about New Earth."

Martha nods. "Alright. Well, we turned up later than you two did, and the city wasn't exactly as you'd remember it. We ended up in the slums, and there were all these people selling mood drugs, just these patches that you put on your skin to make you happy or to make you forget things. And then this couple just showed up and grabbed me and dragged me into this stinking underground motorway, but motorway doesn't even begin to do it justice. Thousands upon thousands of floating cars, as far as the eye can see. Up, down, forward, back – no walls, no ceiling or sky, no floor, just more cars. All you could see was cars. Not even moving, really, just stuck in this huge traffic jam. Turns out the couple wanted me so that they'd have three adult passengers, because apparently once you've got three adults, you can go down to the Fast Lane. Which is a really big deal, because loads of these people had been driving for years on end. Years and years and years, nothing but driving and driving."

"Ouch."

"Yeah," Martha agrees. "But the Doctor managed to open up the roof and everyone drove up to the city. And everyone in the city had died years back because of a virus that mutated from one of those mood patches. There were only two people left – this cat woman nurse named Novice Hame –"

"I remember her!"

"– and this big rubbery-looking head in a huge glass jar, called –"

"The Face of Boe!" Rose interrupts, grinning in delight. "Oh, you met the Face of Boe, that's brilliant. I love the Face of Boe. Met him twice before, he's great." She pauses. "Hold on. Last time I saw him – that was when I was on New Earth, actually – he said the next time he met the Doctor, he'd pass on his great and powerful secret. Did he?"

Martha shrugs. "I guess."

"Well, what was it?" Rose urges. "What did he say?"

"He said 'you are not alone'," Martha replies. "That's it. Just that. 'You are not alone'."

Rose frowns. "Huh. Wonder what he meant by that."

"Dunno," Martha says with a shrug, and looks over at the monitor, which shows nothing but static. "We lost picture when that thing flared up," she says into the computer. "Doctor, are you there?"

"_Receiving, yeah,"_ comes the Doctor's reply. _"He's inside."_

"And still alive?"

"_Oh, yes."_

"But he should evaporate," Yana protests from behind the girls. "What sort of a man is he?"

"He's a Time Agent," Rose tells Yana. "He's a con man. He's an operative of Torchwood Three, Cardiff branch, giving his life again and again to defend the Earth. And he's no sort of a man at all." She looks to Martha. "Anything to add?"

Martha shrugs. "I've only just met him." To Yana, she says, "The Doctor sort of travels through time and space and picks people up. God, I make us sound like stray dogs. Maybe we are."

"We're not," Rose murmurs. "Trust me on that. We mean the world to him."

"Maybe you do," Martha replies softly.

Rose sighs. "Martha, get this through your head. He cares about you. So much. Just… not like that."

"He travels in time?" Yana asks, completely oblivious to the girls' conversation.

"Don't ask me to explain it," Martha replies. Gesturing to the blue box in the corner of the lab, she says, "That's a TARDIS. The sports car of time travel, he says." Then, at the sound of the Doctor's tinny voice from the computer screen, Rose and Martha both turn their attention away from Yana and listen.

"_When did you first realize?"_

"_Earth, 1892," _comes Jack's reply. _"Got into a fight on Ellis Island. A man shot me through the heart. Then I woke up. Thought it was kind of strange. But then it never stopped. Fell off a cliff, trampled by horses, World War One, World War Two, poison, strangulation, a stray javelin… in the end, I got the message. I'm the man who can never die. And all that time you knew."_

"_That's why I left you behind," _the Doctor tells him. _"It's not easy, even just… just looking at you, Jack, 'cause you're wrong."_

"Oh, that's nice," Rose murmurs to herself, just as Jack replies with a cynical, _"Thanks."_

"_You are," _the Doctor insists. _"I can't help it. I'm a Time Lord. It's instinct. It's in my gut. You're a fixed point in time and space. You're a fact. That's never meant to happen. Even the TARDIS reacted against you, tried to shake you off. Flew all the way to the end of the universe just to get rid of you."_

"_So what you're saying is that you're, uh… prejudiced?"_

The Doctor chuckles. _"I never thought of it like that."_

"_Yeah," _Jack agrees. After a moment, he continues, saying, _"Last thing I remember back when I was mortal… I was facing three Daleks. Death by extermination. And then I came back to life. What happened?"_

There's a pause where, unknown to the men having the conversation, both of the women listening in hold their breath, awaiting the answer to this impossible question. But when it finally comes, just one tiny little word, one syllable, so familiar to one of them in particular, it's not what anyone was expecting.

"_Rose."_

"What?" Rose says softly, frowning.

"_I thought you sent her back home," _Jack says.

"_She came back," _the Doctor replies. _"Opened the heart of the TARDIS and absorbed the time vortex."_

"_What does that mean, exactly?" _Jack asks.

"_No one's ever meant to have that power," _the Doctor replies. _"If a Time Lord did that, he'd become a god, a vengeful god. But she was human." _He sighs softly. _"Everything she did was so human. She brought you back to life, but she couldn't control it. She brought you back forever. That's something, I suppose. The final act of the Time War was life."_

"I see why he loves you," Martha murmurs. "You sound pretty amazing."

Rose allows herself a small grin. "I don't even remember it. He had to take the vortex out of me to save my life. He told me what I'd done, how I'd destroyed the Daleks…"

"Of course you did," Martha says softly, too softly for Rose to hear.

"But he never told me I brought Jack back to life," Rose continues. "I thought he was dead. And all this time, he knew."

"_Do you think she could change me back?" _Jack asks.

"_I took the power out of her," _the Doctor replies. _"It's gone, Jack. If she'd kept the vortex in her mind for any longer, it would've killed her. I'm sorry. I won't let her take that sort of risk again."_

There's a pause, and the next voice they hear is still the Doctor's, asking, _"Do you want to die?"_

Jack doesn't reply; judging only by sound, he seems to be struggling a bit with one of the couplings. _"Oh, this one's a little stuck."_

"_Jack?" _the Doctor presses.

"_I thought I did," _Jack admits._ "I dunno. But this lot, you see them out here surviving, and that's fantastic." _Rose chuckles softly at the last word, at the fake Northern accent he adopts for its three syllables, at the emphasis he puts on it, and Martha gives her a confused look. "It's something the Doctor used to say a lot," she explains. "Fantastic."

"Sort of like 'allons-y', then?" Martha suggests.

"Oh, does he say that often?" Rose grins. "He said he was going to."

"_You may be out there somewhere," _the Doctor says.

"_I could go meet myself," _Jack agrees.

"_Well, the only man you're ever gonna be happy with."_

"_This new regeneration," _he observes, _"it's kind of cheeky."_

"_Hmm."_

"I never understand half the things he says," Martha mutters; she turns at sees Yana, completely still, staring of into space. "What's wrong?"

"Chan – Professor, what is it – tho?" Chantho asks anxiously.

"Time travel," Yana murmurs, sounding awed. "They say there was time travel back in the old days. I never believed. But what would I know? I'm just a stupid old man. Never could keep time. Always late, always lost. Even this thing never worked." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a silver fob watch, running his thumb over the back. "Time and time and time again. Always running out on me."

"Can I have a look at that?" Martha requests, and there's a strange quality to her voice and expression.

"Oh, it's only an old relic." Yana chuckles. "Like me."

"Where did you get it?"

"Hmm?" He frowns. "I was found with it."

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"An orphan in the storm," he continues. "I was a naked child found on the coast of the Silver Devastation. Abandoned with only this."

"Have you opened it?" she questions.

"Why would I?" he replies. "It's broken."

"How do you know it's broken if you've never opened it?"

"It's stuck," he insists. "It's old. It's not meant to be. I don't know."

Martha reaches forward, takes the watch, and gently, cautiously, hesitantly turns it over. Seeing the engravings on the top – many decorative interlocking circles – she steps back abruptly, sucking in a nervous breath.

"Does it matter?" Yana asks with a frown.

"No," Martha says, her voice unusually tense and high-pitched. "It's… nothing. It's… Listen, everything's fine up here. I'm gonna see if the Doctor needs me." She turns and runs out of the lab like she can't get away from that watch fast enough, and Rose, after shooting Yana a confused and apologetic look, runs after her.

-0-0-0-

"Yes!" Jack exclaims triumphantly as he releases the last coupling.

"Now get out of there!" the Doctor urges. "Come on!"

Jack opens the door and steps out of the radiation-flooded chamber, back into the control room, as the Doctor calls Atillo. "Lieutenant, everyone on board?"

"_Ready and waiting," _comes the reply.

"Stand by!" the Doctor instructs. "Two minutes to ignition." He hangs up and moves to stand at the controls with Jack; as he begins to work, Martha runs in, a panicked expression on her face.

"Ah, nearly there," he comments. "The footprint is a gravity pulse. It stamps down, the rocket shoots up. Bit primitive. It's going to take the both of us to keep it stable."

Martha moves in front of him as he works, trying to get his attention; Rose, who arrived just a few seconds after Martha, watches from the doorway, looking confused.

"Doctor," Martha says. "It's the professor. He's got this watch, he's got a fob watch. It's the same as yours. Same writing on it. Same… everything."

"Don't be ridiculous," he scoffs.

"I asked him," she insists. "He said he's had it all his life.

"So he's got the same watch," Jack says – clearly he's just as lost as Rose, completely missing the significance.

"Yeah, but it's not a watch," Martha explains. "It's this chameleon thing."

"No, no, no, it's this…" the Doctor corrects, flustered, "this thing, this device. It rewrites biology, changes a Time Lord into a human."

"That's possible?" Rose asks.

"And it's the same watch," Martha says insistently.

"It can't be."

An alarm blares and the Doctor goes to work on the controls, trying to fix it.

"That means he could be a Time Lord," Jack says. "You might not be the last one."

"Jack, keep it level!"

"But that's brilliant," Martha says. "Isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," he agrees. "'Course it is. Depends which one. Brilliant, fantastic, yeah. But they died, the Time Lords. All of them, they died."

"Not if he was human," Jack points out.

"What did he say, Martha?" When she doesn't reply, the Doctor raises his voice and demands, "What did he say?"

Martha gasps. "He looked at the watch like he could hardly see it. Like that perception filter thing."

"What about now?" the Doctor asks. "Can he see it now?"

-0-0-0-

**MUAHAHAHAHA CLIFFHANGER. Not much of one, though, because anyone who's seen the episode knows where this is going. **

**We didn't make it to fifteen reviews, so I didn't update yesterday. I know, I'm mean, but still. If you want to live in this story you've gotta pay the rent.**

**That was a weird metaphor.**

**Anyway, for those of you who haven't noticed this yet, the prompt contest is closed, and the winner is _The_Always_Angel! _Thanks for all the amazing prompts, you guys - they were all great, but this one made ideas happen in my head. Literally. I didn't even have to think about it, they just started HAPPENING. So I wrote that and it's up now - it's called _My Hand In Yours, _and it's 11/Rose. Go check it out if you're interested! I will give you hugs!**

**Per usual, fifteen reviews gets you the next chapter, and if anyone feels the desire to keep on sending me prompts, please do. If ideas happen, they will be written!**

**Love you guys!**

**-Caskett54**


	9. Chapter 9

"If he escaped the Time War, then it's the perfect place to hide," Jack reasons. "The end of the universe."

"Doctor." Rose places a hand on his arm, and instantly, he turns his attention away from Jack and Martha and focuses on her. Solely on her. Things could start exploding just behind him, and he'd probably still be looking at her. "Doctor," she whispers. "_Yana." _

The Doctor frowns. "Yeah, Yana. What about him?"

"_Yana," _Rose repeats, putting as much emphasis on the name as she can. "Doctor, you're clever, think about it – Yana! Martha, she –" She draws in a deep breath. "She told me about the time you went to New Earth with her, how you met the Face of Boe again. And she told me what he said."

"Oh, my God," Martha whispers in awe, her eyes widening as she realizes where Rose is going with this.

"You are not alone," Rose quotes, tightening her grip on his arm. "Doctor, _You Are Not Alone." _

"Y, A, N, A," he murmurs as he catches up to her. "Yana."

"Exactly," Rose whispers.

With wide eyes, the Doctor grabs a phone from the console beside him and shouts into it. "Lieutenant, have you achieved velocity?" he demands. "Have you done it? Lieutenant! Have you done it?"

"_Affirmative," _Atillo replies. _"We'll see you in Utopia."_

"Good luck." Then he hangs up the phone and glances back at Rose, who's let go of his arm; as though adhering to some unspoken command, they move in sync, and their hands find each other, fingers tangling together into an unbreakable knot. "Guess what comes next," he says softly, and despite the seriousness of the situation, he can't keep a small grin from forming on his face.

Her expression mirrors his, that fire he's so missed sparkling brightly in her eyes. And, eyes locked, smiling at each other, they speak in unison – one word, just one tiny little word that somehow says more than can ever be said:

"Run."

Clinging to each other, connected by their hands, just like old times, they both dash from the control room. And oh, he has missed this. Not the running, he's always got that. But the running with her. Running with Martha was never quite the same; her hand was too slim, her fingers too long, her bone structure much too delicate. It was like that moment when you're assembling a puzzle, and you end up holding two pieces which really seem like they ought to fit, but then you try to put them together and they really don't. Yes, you can force it, but it ends up falling apart at a single touch, or snapping out of place. Because even though they seem like they should fit, even though with work you can make them fit, they really, really don't.

Rose is different. Rose is perfect. Rose fits. Her hand locks together so perfectly with his that it's like they were made to be that way. Sealed together. Never letting go. When he thinks about it, it is entirely possible that in this regeneration, his hands were shaped specifically to fit together with hers. He was born with her at his side, after all. But for once, he doesn't want to think about the science of it all. He just wants to marvel at how perfectly things worked out.

Martha was forced. Running with her didn't come naturally. She was a last resort, a desperate measure, someone to break his fall and to be there when he needs someone to stop him. She's someone to lean on, whether he admits he's leaning on her or not. She's the one who swooped in at his darkest hour and saved him. And she's brilliant, really brilliant. Of course she's brilliant. He only takes the best. But still… she isn't Rose. She will never compare to Rose.

Running with Martha was okay. But running with Rose… it's more than okay. It's amazing. It's brilliant. It's beautiful. It's fantastic. It's extraordinary. It's… it's just _right. _

So they run.

Because they're good at running. And because through running – through the synchronized thumping of two pairs of feet against the floor, through the accelerated beating of three hearts, through the adrenaline coursing inside their veins, through the smiles on their faces and the laughs in their eyes, through the flawless clasping of each other's hands… Through running, they can be one and the same. Through running, they can, with neither words nor eye contact, truly stare into each other's souls and whisper _hey, I missed you. _

And, of course, because there's somewhere to run to.

As they run towards a main door, it slides closed, and it shuts before they get there; they barely manage to stop their momentum from carrying them straight into its smooth surface. As soon as they arrive, the Doctor pulls out his sonic screwdriver and moves it up and down, the blue bulb on the end glowing as the mechanical whirring fills the air. That's when they first become aware that Martha and Jack are following them. Jack slows to a stop and is calmly jogging when he reaches them, but Martha really does fly into the door, carried forward by momentum she can't control. She manages to throw out her hands at the last second, and her outstretched palms collide with the door. Her arms buckle, elbows bending as the rest of her body continues to attempt to keep moving forward, but she's managed to catch herself, and after a moment, she's still. She stands there for a few seconds, bracing herself against the door, before turning to see the Doctor still trying to sonic the door, shouting, "Get it open! Get it open!" while Jack tries the keypad.

After a few seconds, Jack does, and as soon as the door has opened wide enough to allow for it, they all dash through. And the running resumes.

This time, he isn't quite as oblivious to the world. He stays tuned in to the events taking place around him, and he curses that he had to be born into a race with two hearts rather than two minds, because he wants to focus wholly and unwaveringly on her.

It's a good thing that he's paying attention, though, because if he wasn't, he'd be dead. More importantly, she'd be dead. Because before they can get far, they run into a group of the Futurekind.

"How did they get in?" Rose cries out as the Doctor turns around, pulling her with him by the hand, and they backtrack, running back the way they came, with the Futurekind not too far behind them.

"This way!" Jack shouts, stopping at an intersecting hallway, and they all turn and dash down it; they don't have to run much further before they reach the door to Yana's lab, which is locked. As Jack goes to work on the keypad, the Doctor looks through the window in the door, pounding on the glass with his free hand. "Professor!" he shouts. "Professor, let us in! Let us in! Jack, get the door open!"

Rose stands on her tip-toes and leans to look through the window as well, and oh, even in such a dangerous situation, it's so difficult to pretend that having her face so close to his isn't unbearably distracting…

"Professor!" he yells, forcing himself to concentrate on the task at hand rather than doing what he wants to do, which would be to turn to face Rose, beautiful Rose, to gently place his hand on her cheek, to lean in and carefully, cautiously, softly meet her lips with his –

No. Concentrating. Come on, he can do this. "Professor, where are you? Professor! Professor, are you there? Please, I need to explain! Whatever you do, don't open that watch!"

"They're coming!" Martha yells from behind them, her voice edged with panic.

"Professor!" the Doctor cries. "Open the door, please! I'm begging you, Professor! Please! Listen to me! Open the door, please!"

Jack gives up on trying to hack the door and lifts his hand; he brings it down, hitting the keypad with the butt of his revolver; the door slides open. The Doctor rushes in, finally letting go of Rose's hand – not because he wants to, but for her own safety. If he's right about what's happening here, and he normally is right about these sorts of things, the closer she is to Yana, the more danger she's in. He can't have that.

Yana is leaning against the TARDIS, and he appears to be injured; one glance at Chantho's unmoving form on the floor, and the little gun clutched in her hand explains that. The Doctor moves forward, but before he can reach Yana, the aging professor backs into the TARDIS and shuts the door. The Doctor runs to his blue box, pulling out his key, but when he tries to unlock the door, it doesn't work. So he tucks the key back into his pocket and pulls out his screwdriver, attempting to sonic the door, but that fails as well.

"Let me in!" the Doctor shouts, pounding on the TARDIS. "Let me in!"

"She's dead," Martha says softly, and he knows without having to look back that she's talking about Chantho.

"Doctor –" Oh, Rose, his beautiful Rose, rushing to his side and placing a hand on her shoulder. But for once, he pushes her away, saying, "Rose, stay back, it isn't safe –"

"I don't care if it's safe or not –"

"I've broken the lock!" Jack yells from where he's trying to hold the door closed. "Give me a hand!"

"Go help Jack," he urges, and for once, she listens to him. Both she and Martha hurry over to the broken door to help Jack keep the Futurekind out as the Doctor turns back to the TARDIS. "I'm begging you!" he calls. "Everything's changed! It's only the two of us! We're the only ones left! Just let me in!"

But his pleas are cut off by the sound of a scream; orange-gold light shines blindingly bright through the windows in the door of the TARDIS. Behind him, the Futurekind arrive at the door, and Rose, Martha, and Jack struggle to keep it closed. "Doctor!" Jack shouts. "You'd better think of something!"

Suddenly, a voice comes from the TARDIS, a man's voice, probably belonging to someone in their thirties. "Doctor!" it declares. "Ooh, new voice." In a low voice, it greets, "Hello," and then in a high pitched falsetto, "Hello!" and then normal again, "Hello. Anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat where I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me? I don't think so!"

"Hold on!" Martha cries. "I know that voice!"

She doesn't, of course – how could she? She's just confusing it with the voice of someone else she knows. She must be. This voice is brand-new, belonging to the newly regenerated body of his rival, his childhood friend, his nemesis. No one knows this voice.

"I'm asking you properly!" the Doctor cries. "Just stop! Just think!"

"Use my name," the man in the TARDIS instructs.

He takes a deep breath, and whispers, "Master. I'm sorry."

"Tough!" the Master shouts, and the TARDIS begins to make her engine noise, the bulb on the top flashing as she begins to fade in and out. The Doctor lifts his sonic screwdriver and holds it out, a determined, dark expression on his face, as Jack yells, "I can't hold out much longer, Doctor!"

"Oh, no you don't!" comes the Master's voice as the dematerialization of the TARDIS ceases for a second – but only for a second, because he quickly gets it working again. "End of the universe. Have fun. Bye bye!"

"Doctor, stop him!" Martha cries, and oh, he wants to. He wishes he could. And he's sorry. Failing the girl who sustained him through his darkest hours, who gave him a shoulder to lean on when the burden of losing his Rose was too much, is painful enough.

But of course, that's not all there is.

Because there's another voice, one that pains him a thousand times more acutely, a beautiful, sweet, soft-spoken Cockney accent that he knows so well. Crying out, "Doctor!" because just that simple, sweet word is enough. Enough to convey her meaning, enough to send a spike of agony ricocheting through his body at the desperation and fear in her voice. He wants to protect her. He'll do anything to protect her.

Can he, though? Can he really? Or is she better off as far away from him as possible?

-0-0-0-

**Dun-dun-duuuuuuh. The Master took the TARDIS, they're about to die, and - gasp - the Doctor is contemplating the possibility that Rose is better off without him! Never fear, though, I'm as devoted a shipper as the rest of you.Seriously. A little faith, guys. I'm not _Moffat. _**

**Anyways - tsk, tsk, guys. You aren't reviewing! (Those of you who are reviewing - ignore this. I love you.) Am I doing something wrong? The fact that this story is totally written doesn't mean I can't go back and make edits if there's something I can do to make you guys happier. We're all about customer satisfaction here. Some of the time. I figure I owe it to you guys to be a bit nicer than usual in this story, because in The Slow Path and my Eleven/Rose one-shots, I'm just plain _mean. _Anyway, please, review! You have no idea how happy hearing from you guys makes me. If you want, you could even shoot me a PM and strike up a conversation - I _will_ reply. Let me know what you like about this story and what I can do to make it better. **

**Because if you don't... _I WILL SUMMON THE ARMADA AND TAKE THIS WORLD BY FORCE._**

**Ten reviews! Ten reviews! My kingdom and a new chapter for ten reviews!**

** I love you all!**

**-Caskett54**


	10. Chapter 10

All she can say is, it's a good thing Jack always has that wristband of his.

When the man who wasn't Yana took the TARDIS, she really did think they were screwed. She'd forgotten about that part of traveling with the Doctor – the moments when things look so bleak that you can't possibly see how you'll be getting out of this one. The moments when you're sure you're doomed.

But then you remember that you're with the Doctor.

And you remember that a sonic screwdriver can do absolutely anything aside from deadlocked doors and wood.

"Oh, my head!" Martha cries, clutching at her temples and squeezing her eyes shut in pain. Rose knows what she means – she, too, has one of the worst headaches of her life. Still, she's had worse. Her head was pretty bad when she woke up after the Doctor took the time vortex out of her, right before he regenerated.

"Time travel without a capsule," the Doctor agrees. "That's a killer." He takes hold of Rose's hand once again, and they leave the alley where they came out, and begin walking along a crowded main street.

"Still, at least we made it," Jack points out. "Earth, 21st century by the looks of it. Talk about lucky."

"That wasn't luck," the Doctor says, "that was me."

They find a place to sit in the middle of a pedestrian-only road as Jack says to Martha, "The moral is, if you're gonna get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with an ex-Time Agent and his vortex manipulator."

"Oi, and a Time Lord and his sonic screwdriver!" Rose protests. "You said it yourself, that thing hasn't worked for years. We'd be dead if it wasn't for him."

"But this Master bloke," Martha says, "he's got the TARDIS. He could be anywhere in time and space."

"No, he's here," the Doctor corrects, scanning their surroundings – there wasn't much to see but people and campaign posters for some bloke named Saxon plastered all over walls and columns everywhere.

"Who is he, anyway?" Martha asks. "That voice at the end, that wasn't the professor."

"If the Master's a Time Lord, he must have regenerated."

"What does that mean?"

"Means he's got a different face," Rose says. "New voice, new body, new everything. Still the same man, though, when it comes down to it." She squeezes the Doctor's hand lightly, and he squeezes right back, a tiny smile growing on his face. "Still, he looks completely different."

"Then how are we gonna find him?" Martha demands.

"I'll know him," the Doctor tells her. "The moment I see him. Time Lords always do."

"But hold on." Rose turns to face Martha, and she recognizes the dark-skinned woman's expression – it's reminiscent of the face the Doctor gets when he's figuring something out. "If he could be anyone…" Martha trails off, and Rose notices that she's glancing around at – what? The campaign posters? "We missed the election. But it can't be…"

_It can't be_… she'll have picked that up from the Doctor, he does say it an awful lot. She smiles softly to herself, but is brought back to reality from her memories when she feels her hand being lifted; she looks over to see the Doctor standing slowly, and beside him, Jack doing the same. Rose is a little puzzled – what are they all so worried about? Something to do with the Prime Minister? She wouldn't know much about that, the politics in the alternate world are different than they are here…

Still, she walks with the Doctor, Jack, and Martha towards a giant screen showing the news; a newscaster is announcing, "Mr. Saxon has returned from the Palace and is greeting the crowd inside Saxon Headquarters."

The image on the screen changes to show a rather good-looking man with brown hair, probably in his thirties, walking down a flight of stairs, holding up a hand to greet the clusters of people with microphones and cameras that swarm towards him. A beautiful woman with blonde hair pulled up in a neat bun walks beside him on his arm.

"I said I knew that voice!" Martha exclaims. "When he spoke inside the TARDIS. I've heard that voice hundreds of times. I've seen him, we all have!" _Not me, _Rose thinks, but she keeps quiet as, with awe and fear in her voice, Martha says, "That was the voice of Harold Saxon."

"That's him," the Doctor agrees. "He's Prime Minister."

On the screen, a photographer urges, "Mr. Saxon, this way, sir. Come on, a kiss for the lady, sir."

"The Master is Prime Minister of Great Britain." As the man – Saxon? The Master? Both? – leans down and presses his lips to those of the blonde woman, the Doctor frowns, and adds, "The Master and his wife!"

"This country has been sick," Saxon announces as he steps forward. "This country needs healing. This country needs medicine. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that what this country really needs… right now… is a doctor."

-0-0-0-

"Home," Martha says as she pushes open the door to her flat, holding it open as the Doctor, Jack, and Rose step inside.

"What have you got?" the Doctor asks, looking around the flat as Martha shuts the door behind them. "Computer, laptop, anything?" He looks over at Jack, who is trying to make a call on his mobile phone. "Jack, who are you phoning? You can't tell anyone we're here!"

"Just some friends of mine," Jack says. "But there's no reply."

"D'you think they're alright?" Rose asks, sounding concerned.

"They can take care of themselves," he assures her. "Gwen's still pretty new, but she knows what she's doing. She'll take charge."

"Here you go." Martha hands the Doctor a laptop. "Any good?"

Jack promptly steps forward and takes the computer. "I can show you the Saxon websites," he says. "He's been around for ages." He takes a seat at the desk, and Rose leans against the desk beside him, pursing her lips in thought. "Gwen and Rhys were talking about Saxon," she muses. "Said they were voting for him."

"That's so weird, though," Martha says. "It's the day after the election. That's only four days after I met you."

"We went flying all around the universe," the Doctor agrees, "while he was here the whole time."

"You going to tell us who he is?" Rose asks.

"He's a Time Lord."

"Yeah, I got that part," she agrees. "What about the rest of it? How d'you know him? Was he your friend?"

"Also," Martha puts in, "who'd call himself the Master?"

"That's all you need to know," the Doctor tells them firmly; to Jack, he says, "Come on, show me Harold Saxon."

As Jack works on the computer, Martha walks over to her home phone and checks her answering machine. A young woman's voice plays: _"Martha, where are you? I've got this new job, you won't believe it. It's weird, they just phoned me up out of the blue. I'm working for –"_

Martha shuts off the machine before the woman can finish the sentence, muttering, "Oh, like it matters."

Jack pulls up Saxon webpage and plays a video – it's a campaign commercial, with messages from noteworthy supporters.

"_I'm voting Saxon. He can tick my box any day."_

"_Vote Saxon! Go Harry!"_

"_I think Mr. Saxon is exactly what this country needs. He's a very fine man. And he's handsome, too!"_

Jack stops the video. "Former Minister of Defense," he says. "First came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve." He turns to the Doctor. "Nice work, by the way."

The Doctor, who has taken a seat on the arm of the couch, nods. "Oh, thanks."

"What was that, then?" Rose asks, sitting down beside the Doctor. "The, um - the Racnoss, who are they?"

"Great big spider things," he replies vaguely. "They had a ship at the center of the Earth. Long story. I had to fight them with this woman called Donna - oh, she was a piece of work. You'd like her. She just wanted to get married. We drained the Thames." He sniffs loudly and swallows hard. "That, was, um, right after -" He clears his throat. "After I, um - right after you..." He trails off, unable to finish, and rubs his left eye as though trying to get out a bit of sand or something that's lodged itself there. Rose, of course, knows almost instantly what he was going to say; she reaches out and locks her fingers with his, gently rubbing her thumb back and forth across the back of his hand. To reassure him. To wordlessly whisper, _It's okay. I'm here now. I'm back._

"He goes back years," Martha says, oblivious. "He's famous. Everyone knows his story, look." She gestures to the computer. "Cambridge University, rugby blue, won the athletics thing, wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He's got a whole life."

"She's right," Rose agrees as Jack gets up, walks to the kitchen, and puts on a pot of tea, and the Doctor moves to the desk. "I looked him up, just a few days after I got back here. Before I found you." She shrugs. "Nothing seemed out of order. He's just a bloke."

"But he's got a TARDIS," Jack reasons. "Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades."

"No," the Doctor states.

"Why not? Worked for me."

"When he was stealing the TARDIS, the only thing I could do was fuse the coordinates," the Doctor explains. "I locked them permanently. He can only travel between the year one hundred trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed. Which is right here, right now."

"Yeah," Jack replies, "but a little leeway?"

"Well…" He falters. "Eighteen months. Tops! The most he could've been here is eighteen months. So how has he managed all this?"

"Hallucinogenic lipstick?" Rose suggests innocently, earning her several strange looks from around the room. "No, probably not," she admits. "And not on this sort of scale."

"The Master always was sort of… hypnotic," the Doctor muses. "But Rose is right, this is on a massive scale."

"I was gonna vote for him," Martha murmurs.

"Really?"

"Well, it was before I even met you," she points out. "And I liked him."

"Me too," Jack agrees.

"Me as well," Rose pipes up. "And Gwen. And Rhys."

"Why do you say that?" the Doctor asks. "What was his policy? What did he stand for?"

Martha tips her head to the side; a sort of vague expression glosses over her face. "I dunno," she says in a distant, dreamy tone. "He always sounded… good." Absentmindedly, she begins tapping her fingers in a pattern of four beats. "Like you could trust him. Just… nice. He spoke about… I can't really remember, but it was good." A dazed smile crosses her face. "Just the sound of his voice."

"What's that?" the Doctor shouts suddenly, and the loud clearness of his voice is in sharp contrast to the happy dreaminess of Martha's. And it seems to do the trick; she snaps out of it, and, startled, demands, "What?"

"That!" he exclaims, pointing to her hands. "That tapping, that rhythm! What are you doing?"

"I dunno," she says, "it's nothing!"

"He's right," Rose chimes in. "Outside, earlier, there was a man tapping that out against a mug. Four taps, over and over again."

"It's nothing," Martha repeats. "It's ju- I dunno!"

A tune plays from the website on the laptop and 'SAXON BROADCAST ALL CHANNELS' appears on the screen.

The Doctor turns on the TV. "Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom."

On the television, Saxon – the Master – is sitting in front of the ornate fireplace in the Cabinet Room. Rose can't help but smile to herself as she thinks back fondly on the time that she almost died there. Fighting aliens in Downing Street with Harriet Jones. She glances over at the Doctor, and sees her own expression mirrored on his face – he's thinking of the same thing. He meets her eyes, and both of their smiles grow into grins. Neither can get over how happy they are that she's back.

"Britain, Britain, Britain," Saxon says on the TV. "What extraordinary times we've had. Just a few years ago, this world was so small. And then they came, out of the unknown, falling from the skies."

The image cuts to a clip of the spaceship that crashed into Big Ben shortly before the Downing Street incident. _"You've seen it happen,"_ he continues in voiceover. _"Big Ben destroyed. A spaceship over London."_

The screen changes to – _oh_.

"_All those ghosts and metal men."_

This time, when she looks towards the Doctor, she finds that he's standing right beside her, looking down at her with sorrow on his face. She manages a weak, sad smile, which he does not return; gently, he gathers her up in his arms and holds her close, pressing a light, reassuring kiss to the top of her head. She presses herself against his chest, grateful for the comfort of his embrace, the reminder that it's okay - they don't have to be haunted by that day anymore. She's back. They're together again. As they should be.

When she looks back at the screen, it's an image of a great star-like web thing hovering over London. _"The Christmas star that came to kill." _Cut back to Saxon in front of the fireplace. "Time and time again, the government told you nothing," he says. "Well, not me. Not Harold Saxon. Because my purpose here is to tell you this: citizens of Great Britain… I have been contacted. A message for humanity from beyond the stars." He nods to someone off camera, and a video plays. A large silver sphere hovers on the television, speaking in a female voice. _"People of the Earth, we come in peace. We bring great gifts. We bring technology and wisdom and protection. And all we ask in return is your friendship."_

"Oh," Saxon croons as he reappears on the screen. "Sweet. And this species has identified itself. They're called the Toclafane."

"What?!" the Doctor exclaims indignantly, stepping away from Rose and leaning towards the TV.

"And tomorrow morning," Saxon continues, "they will appear. Not in secret, but to all of you. Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin. Tomorrow, we take our place in the universe. Every man, woman, and child. Every teacher and chemist and lorry driver and farmer. Every… oh, I don't know… medical student?"

The Doctor whips around to look at Martha, a panicked expression on both of their faces. He turns the TV around frantically – there's a bomb strapped to the back, ready to go off. He runs for the door, grabbing the laptop; Martha, Jack, and Rose run after him, rushing out of the flat and down the stairs and out onto the street. All three whirl around and look back at the building just in time to see the front window of Martha's flat explode into flames.

-0-0-0-

**OH MY GOD I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH. Seriously. You're freaking amazing. I came home today to fifty-one unread emails. FIFTY. ONE. Granted, not all of them were about this fic, but STILL. So many of you left your thoughts, and for that, I thank you.**

**_YOU HAVE SHARED YOUR THOUGHTS. WE ARE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL._**

**Okay, stepping back out of the realm of children's movie references: really, guys. Thanks so much. I got a ton of feedback which I will definitely take into consideration - unfortunately, there's some stuff in future chapters that I can't change because it would drastically alter the plot, so I can't do everything that you guys ask. So sorry! I really do love you!**

**In other news - did you guys see? Matt and Jenna are doing a tumblr Q&A session! Anyone who doesn't have a tumblr account but has something they want to ask everyone's favorite Time Lord and his gorgeous new companion, leave it in a review and I'll ask it for you! I'm just that amazing.**

**Anyways, fifteen reviews should be nothing after the flood of feedback that you guys sent my way for the last chapter. Thanks again for that. So, yeah, fifteen new reviews gets you the next chapter! And believe me, you want the next chapter... let's just say that if I ever did anything to make you guys unhappy with this story, I'm about to make up for it. **

**Mwah! Love you!**

**-Caskett54**


	11. Chapter 11

"Alright?" the Doctor calls, looking around at each of them as fire blazes in the windows of Martha's flat.

"Fine, yeah, fine," Jack replies.

"Rose?"

"I'm alright," she tells him, pushing her hair out of her face as she steps towards him. He closes the distance between them and hugs her fiercely before turning to Martha. "Martha? What are you doing?"

"He knows about me," Martha replies, lifting her mobile phone to her ear. "What about my family?"

"Don't tell them anything!"

"I'll do what I like!" she shouts, and Rose feels a rush of newfound respect for Martha Jones. Up until now, she's seemed a little submissive. Like maybe she actually does what the Doctor tells her to. "Mum?" Martha says into the phone. "Oh, my God, you're there." There's a pause in which Rose assumes Martha's mother replies. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Mum, has there been anyone asking about me?" Another pause. "I can't! Not now!" Another pause, longer this time. "Don't be so daft! Since when?" Pause. "You said you'd never get back with him in a million years." Another pause – again, it's slightly longer this time. Then she exclaims, "Dad? What are you doing there?" Pause. "Dad? Just say yes or no. Is someone else there?"

For a moment, there's silence. But when Martha's father bellows _"Yes!" _through the phone, it's loud enough for Rose to hear. _"Just run!"_ A rather loud ruckus begins to come through the phone, and Martha moves it a few inches away from her ear because she can hear it just fine from there as well. Her father's voice is still distinguishable sometimes. _"Listen to me, just run!" _he yells. _"I don't know who they are!" _

A woman's voice joins in, saying something like, _"We're trying to help her! Martha, don't listen to him!"_

"Dad?" Martha calls into the phone. "What's going on? Dad!" More yelling from both Martha's father and the female voice (Rose would guess that's Martha's mother), but the words are indistinguishable. "I gotta help them!" Martha exclaims, running to her car.

"That's exactly what they want!" the Doctor shouts at her. "It's a trap!"

"I don't care!" Martha yells back as she gets into the driver's seat. After a moment, the others join her. The Doctor takes the front passenger seat while Jack and Rose sit down in the back. And Martha floors the gas pedal.

The Doctor's new companion, it seems, is a very reckless driver. Then again, Rose knows she would be too if it were her mum, Pete, and baby Tony whose lives were on the line. Still, nothing will be gained by killing them all in a car accident, and Rose resists the urge to tell Martha this.

"Corner!" Rose and the Doctor shout in unison as the car approaches a corner fast; Martha takes it tightly, tires squealing against the asphalt. As she drives, she dials a number on her mobile phone, which doesn't seem like the best idea especially considering she's already driving recklessly. But no one tries to stop her as she holds the phone against her face, mutter, "C'mon, Tish, pick up."

Because Rose is sitting just behind Martha, she can hear the light female voice on the other end, saying, _"Martha, I can't talk right now. We just made first contact. Did you see –" _Suddenly, she stops. _"What are you doing?" _she demands, and there's a loud thump that sounds like the phone hitting the ground. When the girl on the phone – Tish – speaks again, her voice is distant. _"Get off! Linda, tell them!"_

"What's happening?" Martha shouts. "Tish!" She gets no reply; as she hands up, she turns and glares at the Doctor. "It's your fault! It's all your fault!"

"Oi!" Rose protests, but the Doctor turns and gives her a sad but firm look, and she falls silent.

They come around a corner, and Martha stops the car; one look out the front window, and Rose can see why. Quite a scene is unfolding before them. Two dark-skinned people, a man and a woman – Martha's mum and dad, Rose assumes – are being wrestled towards a large van by people in official-looking garb and quite a few people with guns who look like they might be police. "I was helping you!" the struggling woman exclaims. "Get off me!" She catches sight of the car and its occupants. "Martha, get out of here! Get out!"

"Target identified," a blond woman announces, and the police lift their guns.

"Martha, reverse," the Doctor instructs calmly.

"Take aim," the blonde says, and the police aim their weapons at the car.

"Get out, now!" the Doctor orders, and Martha swiftly reverses into a 3-point turn as the blonde shouts, "Fire!"

The police open fire on the car, and the next thing Rose knows, she's being pushed down and out of the way by Jack. Just in time, too, because as he yells "Move it!" bullets shatter the rear window. Martha drives like a maniac away from the police and her parents, and after a while, the assault ceases.

"The only place we can go," she remarks, upset and sarcastic. "Planet Earth. Great."

"Careful!" the Doctor shouts.

"Now, Martha, listen to me," Jack says, perfectly calm and controlled. Working for Torchwood has changed him. He's a proper commander now. "Do as I say. We've gotta ditch this car. Pull over. Right now!"

Martha does as she's told, and they all leave the car. The Doctor, Rose, and Jack depart on foot, but Martha lingers, grabbing her phone and dialing once again.

"Martha, come on!" the Doctor calls back.

She follows them slowly as she waits for the person on the other end to pick up. "Leo!" she exclaims. "Oh, thank God! Leo, you've gotta listen to me. Where are you?" There's a pause as Leo responds. Then, "Leo, just listen to me. Don't go home, I'm telling you. Don't phone Mum or Dad or Tish. You've gotta hide. On my life. You've gotta trust me. Go to Boxer's, stay with him. Don't tell anyone! Just hide!"

Suddenly, Martha freezes in her tracks, and her face falls. Her eyes are cold and steely as she orders, "Let them go, Saxon."

At the sound of the name, the Doctor wheels around, rushing back towards her as she yells, "Do you hear me? Let them go!" He takes the phone from her, lifting it to his ear and speaking into it. "I'm here," he says.

Rose walks towards him and stands beside him, taking his free hand and squeezing it. She's close enough that she can hear Saxon's reply of, _"Doctor."_

"Master," he acknowledges.

"_I like it when you use my name."_

"You chose it," he points out. "Psychiatrist's field day."

"_And you chose yours,"_ Saxon agrees. _"The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?"_

"So," the Doctor says. "Prime Minister."

"_I know. Good, isn't it?"_

"Who are those creatures?" he asks. "'Cause there's no such thing as the Toclafane. It's just a made-up name, like the Bogeyman."

"_Do you remember all those fairytales about the Toclafane when we were kids?"_ Saxon asks. _"Back home. Where is it, Doctor?"_

The Doctor's expression grows sad. "Gone."

"_How can Gallifrey be gone?"_ Saxon spits angrily.

"It burned."

"_And the Time Lords?"_

"Dead. And the Daleks… more or less. What happened to you?"

"_The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War. I was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. I saw it. I ran. I ran so far. Made myself human so they would never find me because… I was so scared."_

"I know," the Doctor murmurs.

"_All of them? But not you, which must mean…"_

"I was the only one who could end it," he defends. "And I tried. I did. I tried everything."

"_What did it feel like, though?" _Saxon asks. _"Two almighty civilizations burning. Oh, tell me, how did it feel?"_

"Stop it."

"_You must've been like God."_

"Oi!" Rose shouts, standing on her tip-toes so she can yell into the phone. "Stop!"

"_Oh, listen to that," _Saxon says, and she can hear the smile in his voice. _"Little Rosie-Posy. Still hanging around, dear?"_

"You stay away from her," the Doctor orders, as serious and deadly as Rose has ever seen him.

"_Oh, touched a nerve, have I?" _Saxon laughs. _"You're a fool, Doctor, getting so attached to these degenerate creatures, these humans. They're so fragile. They die so quickly."_

"Don't," the Doctor warns darkly.

"_You care so much," _Saxon scoffs. _"That's going to be your downfall, Doctor."_

"Please," the Doctor says. "You could stop this right now. We could leave this planet. We could fight across the constellations if that's what you want. But not on Earth."

"_Too late."_

"Why do you say that?"

"_The drumming," _Saxon replies simply. _"I thought it would stop, but it never does. Never ever stops. Inside my head, the drumming, Doctor. The constant drumming."_

"Four beats," Rose murmurs.

"I could help you," the Doctor says. "Please, let me help."

"_It's everywhere. Listen, listen, listen." _He's silent for a moment. _"Here come the drums. Here come the drums."_

Rose looks up suddenly at the sound of a pattern of four beats – a man leaning against a building wearing headphones is tapping the rhythm out on his legs.

"What have you done?" the Doctor demands. "Tell me how you've done this. What are those creatures? Tell me!"

"_Ooh, look," _Saxon says. _"You're on TV."_

"Stop it! Answer me!"

"_No, really. You're on telly! You and your little band, which, by the way, is ticking every demographic box. So, congratulations on that. Look, there you are! Ha!"_

The Doctor looks over at a TV in a shop window – a newscaster is standing beside three images. They're blurry, but easily recognizable as the Doctor, Martha, and Jack. "They are known to be armed and extremely dangerous," the newscaster is saying.

"_You're public enemies number one, two, and three," _Saxon says brightly. _"And four, as soon as I can figure out just who little Rosie-Posy is. Trust me, it won't be long. Oh, and you can tell handsome Jack that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas, so he won't be getting any help from them. Now, go on, off you go. Why not start by turning to the right?"_

The Doctor and Rose both look to the right and see a CCTV camera. "He can see us," the Doctor says, pulling out the sonic screwdriver and using it; sparks fly from the camera as it shuts off.

"_Ooh, you public menace," _Saxon exclaims disapprovingly. _"Better start running," _he sing-songs. _"Go on. Run!"_

"He's got control of everything," the Doctor murmurs.

"There's got to be something we can do," Rose says.

"We've got nowhere to go," Jack points out.

"Doctor," Martha urges. "What do we do?"

"_Run for your life, Doctor!"_

The Doctor hesitates for a moment, swallows, and says, "We run."

They all turn tail and flee; Rose and Martha both grab the Doctor's hand, and end up running on either side of them with Jack trailing along behind them as they tear through a shopping arcade. Once they get out on the other side of the building, as soon as they're somewhere with no one around, the Doctor lets go of Martha's hand and pulls Rose aside. "Rose," he says, completely serious, "you've got to go."

"What?" She drops his hand and takes a step back, frowning. "What d'you mean, I've got to go?"

"You're not safe with us!" he exclaims. "Rose, the only reason your picture wasn't on that screen with the rest of ours is that the Master doesn't know who you are just yet. He only knows your first name, and you won't be his first suspect because officially, in this universe, Rose Tyler is dead. But he will figure it out, and once he does, you'll be in as much danger as the rest of us."

She puts her hands on her hips stubbornly. "I'm not leaving."

"Rose!" He runs his hands anxiously through his hair. "Listen to me, please. I'm begging you. It's not safe!"

"It's never safe!" she shoots back.

"Please, Rose," he pleads. "Get out of here. Go back to your universe, that's the only place you'll be safe. You can come back when this is all over. Please, just go home."

"Doctor." She steps forward, reaching out and running her fingers down his arm before letting her hand to her side. "I am home."

He squeezes his eyes shut for a few seconds before opening them again. "Rose, please," he begs, meeting her eyes. "I just got you back. I can't…" He sucks in a breath. "I can't lose you again."

She's silent for a moment as she considers how to respond to that. A simple 'you won't' will not be enough to reassure him. In fact, she can't really come up with a single way to completely convince him that she'll be fine if she stays with him. Probably because there's no guarantee that she will be. But she can't leave him. She won't leave him.

So she steps forward, closing the distance between them. She stands on her tip-toes and tips her head up and quickly, softly, delicately, comfortingly, gently, hesitantly, shyly, lovingly, peacefully… she presses her lips to his.

It's a feather-light brush of a kiss, and it's brief, far briefer than either would like. She barely lets her lips linger against his for a second before she pulls away, meeting his eyes. In a better situation, she would relish the look of surprise on his face, but now is not the time. "You're not going to lose me," she promises earnestly, letting the corners of her lips tweak upwards in a brief, weak smile. "I promise." She takes his hand and pulls him gently with her, towards where Jack and Martha are standing. Jack is saying something to Martha, and they're not facing the space where the Doctor and Rose stood a moment earlier. But as they join them, Rose notices a look of bitter resentment flickering across Martha's face when she looks at Rose. It's gone as quickly as it appeared, but there's no denying that it was there. And Rose suspects that Martha saw.

-0-0-0-

**OH MY GOD DON'T YOU JUST LOVE ME? I'm amazing, right? Yeah, I am. This is a pretty fluffy piece at times, so you can look forward to... more of this sort of thing. That's all I'm going to say.**

**A few notes:**

**Sorry for the late update. My home internet connection has been on the fritz for days and I literally haven't been able to get on to post this until now. We're working on it.**

**If you can't tell by my writing, I am American. Yeah, I know. I'm British at heart, though - all of my great passions (Doctor Who, Sherlock, Harry Potter, Thursday Next) are British, so can I be an honorary Brit? PLEEEEEEEEEEASE? Anyway, I'm trying my best to use British terminology and such when I write, but if I mess anything up, please do tell me. I want this to be as authentic as possible.**

**Also, in the next few chapters, Martha might be a little less respected. I'm sorry, I do love and respect her character, but honestly, how do you think she would react if she saw this blonde girl who she's been jealous of for ages kissing the man she loves? I promise to steer clear of any Martha-bashing and again, I request that you do the same, but she won't be quite so open and good-natured towards Rose. She's going to be a bit resentful and a bit childish. But I'll try to keep it to a minimum and it won't last, I promise.**

**I got some feedback suggesting that I lower my review expectations. I think it's just because you guys don't want to have to do so much in order to get a new chapter. Come on, all you've got to do is type a few words into the little box down there! Say something thoughtful and I'll respond! It won't take much time or effort! But I aim to please, so here's what we're going to do: ten reviews gets you Chapter 12. There. Now you don't have to work for it. Because I love you that much.**

**Also, completely unrelated - WHO'S SEEN THE TRAILER FOR THE NEW STAR TREK? OH MY GOD, BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH IS THE BAD GUY! HE'S SO EVIL! AND HE'S SO GOOD AT IT! Oh, I adore him, he's fantastic. Okay, deep breaths. Fangirl spasm over. For now.**

**Again, ten reviews = brand new chapter! Happy Holidays!  
**

**-Caskett54**

**(P.S. We have a Christmas tree. His name is Treebeard. Hopefully Treebeard won't try to kill us. That would be bad.)**


	12. Chapter 12

They managed to find a disused warehouse to hide in, and when Jack mentioned that they should find something to eat, Martha immediately volunteered to go and get food. Like she didn't want to be around them – particularly Rose – for even a second longer. This sort of reinforced the idea that yes, she saw what happened between Rose and the Doctor. Rose isn't sure if she's not seeing Martha at her worst or if this is just what Martha is usually like and so far she's seen her at her best, but she's not being the mature, intelligent, respectable woman that Rose met at the end of the universe. She's acting like a teenage girl who's just found out that the boy she's crushing on has a girlfriend and that girlfriend is her close friend. She's acting petty and resentful and yeah, a little bit betrayed. Which is odd considering that she and Rose barely know each other.

Rose isn't even sure that she knows exactly what happened back there. Yes, she kissed him, but… what was it? What did it mean? What changes now?

So far, she hasn't noticed any changes except for Martha's decidedly more hostile behavior towards her.

"How was it?" Jack asks as Martha walks into the warehouse carrying a bag of food.

"I don't think anyone saw me," she replies, deliberately and obviously avoiding looking at Rose as she puts down the bag. "Anything new?"

He lifts his vortex manipulator. "I've got this tuned into the government wavelength so we can follow what Saxon's doing."

"Yeah," she says, "I meant about my family."

"It still says the Jones family taken in for questioning," the Doctor calls from where he sits with the laptop. "Tell you what, though, no mention of Leo."

"He's not as daft as he looks," Martha says proudly, and then her face falls. "I'm talking about my brother on the run. How did this happen?"

Jack sits down, beginning to root through the food. "Nice chips."

The Doctor takes one and pops it into his mouth. "Actually, they're not bad."

Rose, who is sitting beside him, reaches across, takes a chip, and eats it. As she chews, a smile grows on her face, and she turns to look at the Doctor to see that he's smiling over at her. There's a pause as she chews and swallows, and then, at the exact same time, they both burst into laughter.

"Do I want to know?" Jack asks as the Doctor and Rose laugh.

"Rose likes chips," the Doctor manages to say. "Right after our first adventure, she made me buy her chips."

"Oi!" Rose shouts. "You didn't buy anything, I paid!" But he doesn't reply and she doesn't continue to berate him, because they're both too busy laughing. Jack joins in, chuckling, but she knows he's not laughing for the same reason as them. It's one of those things where you had to be there to find it funny. It's one of those things where you had to be them. No, he's just laughing because seeing them so happy makes him happy.

But one member of their party remains stubbornly silent.

Yup. Martha Jones.

She doesn't utter a single sound as she sits down and begins to eat. And it's a while before their laughter ceases and any of them even notice her.

They all eat in silence for a few moments before Jack finally asks, "So, Doctor, who is he? How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?"

"And who is he to you?" Martha puts in, but her voice lacks curiosity and enthusiasm. "Like, a colleague…"

"A friend," the Doctor says. "At first."

"I thought you were gonna say he was your secret brother or something," she says, and the Doctor and Jack both stare at her.

"You've been watching too much TV," the Doctor tells her.

"But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect," Jack says.

"Well," the Doctor replies, "perfect to look at, maybe. And it was. It was beautiful." He leans back. "They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the Continent of Wild Endeavour, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords… the oldest and most mighty race in the universe, looking down on the galaxies below. Sworn never to interfere, only to watch. Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families at the age of eight to enter the Academy. And some say that's when it all began. When he was a child… that's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, eight years old, staring at the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired… some would run away. And some would go mad."

"What about you?" Rose questions.

"Oh," the Doctor says dismissively with his mouth full, "the one that ran away. I never stopped."

Jack's manipulator beeps, and he checks it. "Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognize it."

"Patch it through to the laptop."

"Um…" Jack swallows. "Since we're telling stories, um… there's something I haven't told you yet."

The Torchwood logo appears on the screen of the laptop, and the Doctor blanches. "You work for Torchwood."

"I swear to you," Jack says, "it's different. It's changed. There's only a half a dozen of us now."

"Everything Torchwood did," the Doctor replies, "and you're a part of it?!"

"Doctor," Rose interrupts, "it's alright. I've already had a fantastic row with him over this, and I'm the one who should be angry."

"You're the one who –" He spins to face her, his eyes lit up with intense pain and a little bit of anger. "You think you're the only one they hurt?" he demands. "You think you're the only one who went through hell because of what happened to you? You think this past year hasn't been the worst of my life?"

"Well, I don't know," Rose counters, suddenly angry. "It's kind of hard to tell when you've gone and – and replaced me so fast!" She gestures wildly to Martha.

"Rose, it's –" He rakes his fingers through his hair. "It's not like that! She hasn't replaced you! I told her, I told her the day I took her with me, I said 'you're not replacing her'. And she hasn't! She's Martha, she's amazing, she's incredible, she's brilliant – but she's not _you." _He reaches towards her, and though she flinches away at first, he persists. He lifts his hand to her face and gently brushes blonde strands back and tucks them behind her ear. "No one," he whispers, "could ever replace you."

Every member of the group is dead silent for nearly a full minute before Rose turns away from the Doctor, swallowing hard and blinking back tears that she can't quite put a finger on the reason for. The Doctor clears his throat, shoots a quick glare at Jack, and then opens the file – it's a video of an aging blonde woman.

"If I haven't returned to my desk by 2200 hours," she says to the camera, "this file will be emailed to Torchwood. Which means, if you're watching this, then I'm…" She stops, clears her throat, and continues. "Anyway, the Saxon files are attached. But take a look at the Archangel document. That's when it all started. When Harry Saxon became Minister in charge of launching the Archangel Network." The screen changes to show a graphic of a spinning Earth with satellites.

"What's the Archangel Network?" the Doctor questions.

"I've got Archangel," Martha says, pulling out her phone. "Everyone's got it."

"It's the mobile phone network," Jack says. "'Cause, look, it's gone worldwide. They've got fifteen satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel."

The Doctor pulls out the sonic and uses it on Martha's phone. "It's in the phones!" he shouts. "Oh, I said he was a hypnotist! Wait, wait, wait. Hold on." He taps the phone against the table and it begins to beep out a repeating pattern of four beats. _Beep-beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep-beep. _"There it is," he says. "That rhythm, it's everywhere. Ticking away in the subconscious."

"What is it?" Martha asks. "Mind control?"

"No, no, no, no," the Doctor replies. "Subtler than that. Any stronger and people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code… Vote Saxon. Believe in me. Whispering to the world. Oh, yes! That's how he hid himself from me. 'Cause I should've sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back. The signal cancelled him out."

"Wait," Rose interrupts. "Then how come I thought he was alright?" She pulls out her phone. "We haven't got Archangel in the other universe."

"Well, as soon as you got here, your phone got on the network," the Doctor replies, taking the phone from her and using the screwdriver on it; it begins to beep in the exact same rhythm as Martha's, in perfect unison. "Same as when we first went to the parallel, your phone immediately picked up on Cybus."

"Any way you can stop it?" Jack asks.

"Not from down here," the Doctor replies. "But now we know how he's doing it."

"And we can fight back," Martha says.

He grins. "Oh, yes!"

And he gets to work.

First, he completely disassembles Martha's phone and laptop. He then takes all of their TARDIS keys, and Rose sends up a silent thanks to anyone who might be listening that she had the foresight to keep hers with her at all times. He uses the sonic to weld circuitry and bits of the mobile and computer to the keys, and then he ties his, Jack's, and Martha's to strings to be worn around the neck. Rose already has hers on a string, so he doesn't have to worry about hers.

"Three TARDIS keys," he says as he passes them out to their respective owners. "Three pieces of the TARDIS with low-level perception properties because the TARDIS is designed to blend in. Well, sort of, but… Now! The Archangel Network's got a second low-level signal. Weld the key to the network, and… Martha." He steps back. "Look at me. You can see me, yes?"

She shrugs. "Yeah. Sure."

"What about now?" He slips the key on over his neck, and Rose looks away from him.

It's the strangest thing. She knows he's standing there, and yeah, she can see him, but every time she tries to look at him, it's like her vision just veers off to the side. It's like he's standing in this big blank space, this void, and she doesn't notice him. She sees him, but she doesn't notice him.

Ha. Perception filter.

"It's like…" Martha struggles for a way to describe it. "I know you're there, but I don't want to know."

"And back again." He takes off the key. "See! It just shifts your perception a tiny little bit. Doesn't make us invisible, just unnoticed."

"It's like that thing," Rose puts in. "In those books, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Not Our... um…" She snaps her fingers repeatedly, trying to remember the term. "Somebody Else's Problem! An SEP field!"

"Brilliant!" the Doctor agrees with a grin. "Oh, I know what it's like. It's like – it's like when you fancy someone, and they don't even know you exist. That's what it's like. Come on!" He grabs Rose's hand, and they rush off towards the doors of the warehouse, leaving Martha and Jack behind; as they walk, Rose thinks she hears Jack says something like, "You too, huh?" before he and Martha follow behind them.

"Don't run," the Doctor instructs as they all walk out together onto the streets. "Don't shout. Just keep your voice down. Draw attention to yourself and the spell is broken. Just keep to the shadows."

"Like ghosts," Jack puts in.

"Yeah," the Doctor agrees. "That's what we are. Ghosts."

They all slide their keys on around their necks and venture into the city.

-0-0-0-

They find their way to the airfield where the American president is flying in for first contact and arrive just after he lands. "We've got a president, you know," Rose tells Martha quietly as they watch Saxon and Winters having a conversation – it's difficult to make out what they're saying. "In the parallel world where I was trapped. We didn't have a Prime Minister, we had a president."

Martha completely ignores her.

Eventually, President Winters gets into a waiting car and it drives away, and Saxon gestures for his wife to get onto their private plane. She does, and he turns around to look straight at the spot where the Doctor, Rose, Martha, and Jack are standing. Rose's heart speeds up in fear – can he see them? If he can, he doesn't react to their presence in any way.

A siren sounds, and a police van pulls up; Martha's mum and dad and a young dark-skinned woman who must be her sister are all roughly taken out. Saxon runs over to them like he's greeting old friends, and, laughing, announces, "Hi, guys! All will be revealed!"

"Oh my God," Martha murmurs.

"Don't move," the Doctor instructs.

"But –"

"Don't."

Martha watches, frozen in her place, as her family is transferred to a Land Rover. "I'm gonna kill him," she mutters.

"Say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?" Jack suggests.

"Now that sounds like Torchwood," the Doctor says.

"Still a good plan."

"He's a Time Lord," the Doctor replies, "which makes him my responsibility. I'm not here to kill him." He takes a deep breath. "I'm here to save him."

Rose takes his hand and squeezes it. She knows what this means to him, what it could mean for him. He's not the last anymore, and if he could somehow get the Master to reform, to become the man who was his friend rather than his enemy… he could have a travelling companion who could stay with him forever. An equal, a friend who would never have to leave him.

"Aircraft carrier _Valiant," _Jack announces. "It's a UNIT ship at 28.2 N and 10.02 E."

"How do we get onboard?" Martha asks.

The Doctor looks over at Jack's vortex manipulator. "Does that thing work as a teleport?"

"Since you revamped it, yeah," Jack replies. "Coordinates set."

They all place a hand on the manipulator, and Jack activates it; it yanks them out of the airfield and places them in an engine room. Martha and Jack both groan, but the Doctor and Rose seem completely unfazed.

"Oh, that thing is rough," Martha complains.

"I've had worse nights." Jack cracks his neck. "Welcome to the _Valiant." _

"It's dawn," she states, confused; she walks to a porthole and peers through it. "Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where's the sea?"

"A ship for the twenty-first century," Jack tells her. "Protecting the skies of planet Earth."

"Wait, does that mean –" Rose rushes to the porthole and looks through it; Martha quickly moves away. A grin spreads over Rose's face. "Nice!" she exclaims. "Flying ship!"

-0-0-0-

**I have a horrible headache and the part of my brain which produces witty remarks has curled up in a corner and died. So I apologize for the lack of humor in this author's note.**

**I really want to say asphyxiation now. Asphyxiation. Asphyxiate. Asphyxiated. The fact that I can still spell asphyxiation in my current mental state is a testament to my brilliance.**

**Asphyxiate. The Spanish Inquisition. Genocide.**

**I'm sitting on my couch watching the opening sequence of The Fellowship of the Ring. I will probably be here all night. If anyone wants to come over and bring me cookies and Advil that would be a-OK. _One ring to rule them all... _who else is super-excited for The Hobbit? John is Bilbo and Sherlock is a dragon!**

**Ramble ramble ramble. Treebeard has not yet tried to kill us. He's sparkly and rainbow right now. Asphyxiation. Dear lord, I'm officially brain-dead. _SAURON._**

**The song that plays in Harry and Hermione's adorable dancing scene in Deathly Hallows is called _O' Children. _It's by a guy called Nick Cave. I Googled it. Just so you know. THE DUDE HAS THE RING. AND A REALLY WEIRD NAME. Yeah, he's not going to destroy evil forever. THE RING HAS A WILL OF ITS OWN.**

**Smeagol.**

**Okay, I'm done. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter and I didn't scare you away with the author's note. I swear I'm not like this all the time. Most of the time I'm relatively sane. MY PRECIOUS.**

**Thanks for flooding my inbox with reviews, by the way. You guys rock. Smeagol. Ten reviews for the next chapter. Love you!**

**-Caskett54**


	13. Chapter 13

They begin to make their way through the flying ship, running through the maintenance corridors. Suddenly, the Doctor stops.

"We have no time for sightseeing!" Jack exclaims.

"No, no. Wait," the Doctor says. "Shh, shh, shh. Can't you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

He looks down at Rose expectantly, and she nods. "I hear her," she murmurs. "I mean – that's her, right?"

"I think so," he confirms. "You'd know better than I would, though."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you know her better than anyone. You've seen her heart. You've shared her thoughts."

"Doctor," Martha interrupts, striding past, "my family's on board."

He grins suddenly. "Brilliant! This way!" He takes off in a new direction, dragging Rose along, and they run through more corridors, following the sound. Finally, they open a set of doors to reveal a room which holds…

The TARDIS.

"Oh, at last!" the Doctor shouts at the same time as Rose squeals in glee and Martha exclaims, "Oh, yes!" Only Jack does not join in the enthusiasm; instead, he curiously muses, "What's it doing on the _Valiant?" _

They all charge towards the fantastic blue box and burst through the doors. But the second Rose is inside, she feels like her head is exploding. She drops to the floor, clutching at her head with both hands, her fingernails digging into her scalp. Through squinted eyes, she can see haunting red light and an interior that is very different from the TARDIS she remembers.

"Rose?" That's the Doctor's voice. She feels his hand on her shoulder, hears the concern in his tone as he asks, "Rose, what's wrong?"

"She's hurt," Rose moans, rocking back and forth as the pain rages like fire in her head. "Oh, God, what's he done to her?"

"I'd like to know that, too," Jack agrees.

"Don't touch it!" the Doctor instructs.

"I'm not going to."

"What's he done, thought?" Martha questions. "Sounds like it's… sick."

"She!" Rose corrects fiercely. "She's – she's a she!"

"Also," Martha continues, sounding borderline irritated, "what's wrong with Rose?"

"She's got a lingering mental connection with the TARDIS," the Doctor explains. "Left over from when she looked into the heart of the TARDIS and took the vortex into her mind. She basically shared the TARDIS's consciousness, and afterwards, they were always more connected. Rose understood the TARDIS much better, even better than I did sometimes. She knew what she wanted, when she was trying to tell us something, why she took us places we didn't necessarily want to go… and, I suppose, when it's really bad… she feels the TARDIS's pain."

"What is it?" Rose chokes out. "What's he done to her, what's he turned her into? She's – augh!" She claws at her head, beginning to shake. "She's _screaming!" _

"Jack," the Doctor orders, "get her out of here." The next thing Rose knows, warm arms are lifting her off the ground. She's being carried, like she's a little kid again, and then suddenly the pain in her mind subsides.

She opens her eyes and looks up at Jack, who is carrying her. "Put me down," she instructs, but there's no anger or anything in her voice – she just wants to stand on her own.

"Rose –"

"Jack, I'm fine, put me down."

He does, and she approaches the TARDIS-that-is-not-quite-the-TARDIS-anymore. She makes sure to stop short just before the doorway, but as she looks in at the red interior, at the caged console, she can still feel the stabbing, burning pain, still hear the echoes of the TARDIS's screams in her head.

"What is it?" she asks again, calling into the TARDIS. "What's he done?"

"It can't be," the Doctor murmurs as Jack steps past Rose back into the TARDIS. "No, no, no, no, no, no, it can't be."

"Doctor, what is it?" Martha asks.

"He's cannibalized the TARDIS," he says scornfully.

"He's tortured her," Rose supplements. "Taken her apart, piece by piece, and put her back together all wrong. She's in so much pain."

"Is that what I think it is?" Jack asks.

The Doctor nods darkly, and says, "It's a paradox machine." He rushes over to a dial. "As soon as this hits red, it activates. At this speed, it'll trigger… at two minutes past eight."

"First contact is at eight," Rose calls.

"And then two minutes later…" Jack mutters.

"What's it for?" Martha asks. "What's a paradox machine do?"

"More importantly," Jack says, "can you stop it?"

"Not until I know what it's doing," the Doctor says. "Touch the wrong bit and blow up the solar system."

"Then we've got to get to the Master," Martha says.

"Yeah," Jack agrees. "How do we stop him?"

"Oh, I've got a way." Every single member of the group stares blankly at the Doctor, looking slightly dumbstruck, and he just grins and says, "Sorry, didn't I tell you?"

-0-0-0-

"…For as long as man has looked to the stars, he has wondered what mysteries they hold. Now we know that we are not alone…"

President Winters is speaking to a camera as the Doctor, Rose, Martha, and Jack slip into the room. The whole place is filled with guards and cameramen, and Saxon and his wife are sitting at a table.

"This plan," Jack says, "you gonna tell us?"

The Doctor lifts the key he's wearing. "If I can get this around the Master's neck… cancel out his perception, they'll see him for real. It's just hard to go unnoticed with everyone on red alert. If they stop me… you've got a key."

"Yes, sir."

"I'll get him," Martha mutters darkly.

"Be careful," Rose whispers, holding his hand tightly. "Please."

"And I ask you now," Winters says loudly. "I ask of the human race to join me in welcoming our new friends. I give you – the Toclafane!" Perfectly on cue, several spheres appear out of thin air around him. "My name is Arthur Coleman Winters," the president says, "President Elect of the United States of America and designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet Earth and its associated moon."

"You're not the Master," one of the spheres sneers in an echoing, mechanical male voice.

"We like the Mister-Master!" another sphere says in a high-pitched female voice.

"We don't like you," a third sphere agrees.

Winters falters for a moment. "I… can be Master, if you so wish. I will accept mastery over you if that is God's will."

"Man is stupid," the third sphere scoffs.

"Master is our friend," the first sphere says.

"Where's my Master," the female sphere whines, "pretty please?"

"Oh, alright, then!" Rose whips her head to the side to look at Saxon when he speaks; he jumps up out of his chair, shouts, "It's me!" and then slides out in front of the president. "Ta-da!" He laughs. "Sorry. Sorry, I have this effect, people just get obsessed. Is it the smile? Is it the aftershave? Is it the capacity to laugh at myself? I don't know. It's crazy!"

"Saxon," Winters says, "what are you talking about?"

The grin on Saxon's face disappears in an instant as he turns to face Winters. "I'm taking control, Uncle Sam," he says, deadly serious. "Starting with you." To the Toclafane, he says, "Kill him."

One of the spheres flies forward and shoots Winters with a laser, and instantly, he disintegrates. The room erupts into chaos – everyone's running, trying to get out, and Saxon's people are pulling out their weapons, and Saxon himself… he's just laughing.

"Guards!" he shouts.

"Nobody move!" a guard yells threateningly. "Nobody move!"

"Now, then," Saxon says into a camera. "Peoples of the Earth, please attend carefully."

The Doctor squeezes Rose's hand quickly before letting go of it and rushing forward. She barely has a chance to react before he's pulling the key off his neck and running at Saxon. But he doesn't make it, because a guard yells, "Stop him!" and two guards grab him and force him to kneel on the floor."

"We meet at last, Doctor," Saxon drawls. "Oh, ho! I love saying that!"

"Stop this!" the Doctor yells frantically. "Stop this now!"

"As if a perception filter's gonna work on me," Saxon sighs. "Oh, and look!" He points to where Rose, Martha, and Jack are standing. "It's the girlies and the freak. Although, I'm not sure which one's which."

Growling angrily, Jack rushes him, but before he can even get close, Saxon fires a laser at him and Jack falls to the floor. "Laser screwdriver," Saxon tells the Doctor. "Who'd have sonic? And the good thing is, he's not dead for long. I get to kill him again!"

Martha rushes to Jack's side; Rose follows her, and moves to continue towards the Doctor, but he shoots her a look that stops her. And then he turns back to Saxon, saying, "Master, just calm down. Just look at what you're doing. Just stop. If you could see yourself…"

Saxon sighs, looks into the camera, and says, "Oh, do excuse me, little bit of personal business. Back in a minute." To the guards, he says, "Let him go."

The guards push the Doctor to the floor and step back, and the moment they do, Rose runs to him and drops to the floor at his side. "It's that sound," he says, "the sound in your head. What if I could help?"

"Oh, how to shut him up?" Saxon thinks for a moment. "I know. Memory Lane!" He sits down on the steps facing the Doctor. "Professor Lazarus. Remember him? And his genetic manipulation device? Did you think that little Tish got that job merely by coincidence? I've been laying traps for you all this time. And if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology into one little screwdriver…" He rests his chin in his hand. "But, oh, if only I had the Doctor's biological code. Oh, wait a minute. I do!" He jumps up, runs to a silver case, and opens it to reveal Jack's Doctor-detector. A hand in a bubbling jar. "I've got his hand! And if Lazarus made himself younger… what if I reverse it? Another… hundred years?" He looks over at Rose. "Rosie, love, you might want to take a step back."

She stares him down with fire burning in her eyes, an expression that says, _make me. _And he just sighs, rolls his eyes, and says, "Guards."

The next thing she knows, two of the guards are picking her up and dragging her away from the Doctor. She kicks and flails and screams bloody murder, but they've got iron grips and she can't escape them. So she's forced to watch from a few yards away as Saxon directs the laser screwdriver at the Doctor. And the Doctor screams, going into super-fast convulsions that make it look like he's a video put on fast forward. She screams for him, repeating his name again and again. She's so focused on him that she doesn't notice when Jack revives, doesn't see him take off his manipulator and press it into Martha's hands with a whisper of, "Teleport."

Finally, Saxon stops, and he's done exactly what he's promised. The man before Rose is a withered, aged version of the Doctor, barely recognizable. But his eyes are exactly the same. Rose struggles to escape the guards' grips so she can run to him, but they won't let her go. Martha crawls to his side, putting her arms around him, murmuring, "Doctor, I've got you."

"Aw," Saxon sneers, "she's a would-be Doctor. But tonight, Martha Jones… we've flown 'em in, all the way from prison!" He gestures dramatically towards the door as it slides open and Martha's family is shoved unceremoniously into the room.

"Mum," Martha breathes.

"I'm sorry," her mother chokes out through the tears.

"The Toclafane," the Doctor demands, breathing heavily, "who are they? Who are they?"

"Doctor," Saxon says, "if I told you the truth, your hearts would break."

"Is it time?" the first sphere asks.

"Is it ready?" the third echoes.

"Is the machine singing?" the female one questions.

Saxon checks his watch. "Two minutes past." He climbs up the steps and stands beside his wife. "So! Earthlings! Basically, um… end of the world." He lifts the screwdriver high above his head. "Here. Come. The. Drums!"

A song begins to play – Rogue Trader's _Voodoo Child_, beginning with the words, _here come the drums, here come the drums!_

Saxon runs to a porthole, looking out hopefully, as his wife lifts her fingers to touch her smile and shifts back and forth happily. The world is ending, and Lucy Saxon is dancing.

Rose isn't exactly sure what's happened, but the next thing she sees is Toclafane by the thousands rushing down from the sky towards the Earth. Saxon joins Lucy at the largest window, watching. "How many, do you think?" he murmurs to her.

"I don't know," she replies.

"Six billion," he tells her, and switches on an outside speaker. "Down you go, kids!" He turns to Lucy. "Shall we decimate them? That sounds good. Nice word – decimate." To the Toclafane, through the speaker, he shouts, "Remove one tenth of the population!"

The guards finally release Rose, and she runs to the Doctor, dropping to his side as Martha moves away from him, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"_Valiant, this is Geneva!" _comes a message over the speakers. _"We're getting slaughtered down here!"_

"Rose," Martha whispers as she stands, and Rose looks up. There's no malice in the dark-skinned woman's voice, which is new. Martha beckons her over with her head, and after a moment's hesitation, Rose stands.

"_Help us, for God's sake! Help us! They're everywhere!"_

"What is it?" Rose murmurs, stepping towards Martha.

"_This is London, Valiant! This is London calling! What do we do?"_

Martha glances back at her family, looks back at Rose again, and says, "I'm sorry."

"_They're killing us! The Toclafane are killing us!"_

Martha casts one last look at the Doctor, and then, in one smooth movement which gives Rose no time to react, she reaches out, grabs Rose's hand, places it on Jack's vortex manipulator, and activates the teleport.

Rose's scream of _"NO!" _is lost in the vortex.

Both women are thrown to the ground in a grassy field; they roll away from each other, propelled by their momentum, and the manipulator falls to the ground between them. Rose recovers quickly, rushing towards the manipulator, but Martha gets their first, snatches it up, and holds it away from Rose.

"Give it to me." Martha doesn't. "Martha, please, give it to me!"

"I can't!" Martha shouts, shoving the manipulator into her pocket. "I can't let you go back!"

"I have to!" Rose screams. "Martha, you don't understand –"

"I do understand!" Martha interrupts fiercely. "I love him, too!"

For a moment, they just stand there, staring at each other, completely at odds. Finally, Rose stumbles backwards and collapses to the ground; tears have begun to stream down her face. "You can't," she stutters. "Martha, please, I've got to – you can't do this to me!"

"He asked me to!" Martha shrieks. "He's got a plan, he told me so. He whispered it in my ear! But he can't do anything from up there, we've got to carry it out! And he told me –" She swallows. "He told me to get you out of there. And not to let you come back, because he knew you'd want to. He –" She squeezes her eyes shut. "He just wants you safe."

"Safe?!" Rose stands up quickly. "Safe?!" she repeats incredulously. "Martha, look around you!" She points out towards the edge of the field, where the destruction of London is clearly visible. "Look out there! Do you really think it's any safer down here than it is up there?"

"He doesn't want you anywhere near that madman!" Martha tries to explains. "Down here, at least we've got a chance. At least the whole bloody world has a chance! Because without the Doctor's plan, this –" She points towards London. "Is what life is going to be like from now on. For everyone, forever. Rose, we are the only hope this planet's got!"

Rose hesitates – she knows there's truth in Martha's words. Damn it. Damn her nobility and morality and desire to save everyone. _Everybody lives. _She wants so badly to take the manipulator from Martha and go right back up to the _Valiant_, to the Doctor, and possibly to her death. But she knows she can't.

"What do we do?" she asks.

"We walk the Earth," Martha replies. "We tell a story."

"That's it? Simple as that?"

"Simple as that," she agrees; she looks up at the sky, sees that Rose's eyes are directed at the same place. "We're coming back," she promises earnestly. "We're coming back."

-0-0-0-

Dun-dun-duuuuh! That's _The Sound of Drums _all wrapped up - on to _Last of the Time Lords_!

Now, I know some of you asked for me not to take the easy way out and have Rose walk the Earth. But honestly, the 'Rose at the Master's mercy' plot has been done a thousand times. That's not to say it's been done to death - I've read fics in which it's done extremely well. And I considered changing the story to do that when you guys suggested it, but I couldn't work it into the plot that I already have, and I think I'd feel like I was just redoing what's already been done. If you want to read a good story about Rose on board the Valiant, check out _Endlessly _by Lady Ten. It's awesome.

There's a Dalek hanging on Treebeard. Somehow this just sums up exactly what my family is like.

Ten reviews for the next installment! Love you guys!

-Caskett54


	14. Chapter 14

"_Space lane traffic is advised to stay away from Sol Three, also known as Earth. Pilots are warned Sol Three is now entering terminal extinction. Planet Earth is closed. Planet Earth is closed. Planet Earth is closed."_

-0-0-0-

"There." Rose lifts a hand and points out over the dark waves to where a yellow light is swinging back and forth. "That's who I'm meeting. Drop me off there."

The man rowing the boat nods in understanding and doubles his efforts, sending the rowboat speeding over the churning waters towards the shore. When they're just a few yards away from the point where Rose can get out and walk, he stops. "Can you do it?" he asks, his thick Russian accent distorting his words. "Can you save us?"

She takes a deep breath. "I'm going to try," she promises. He nods, like he understands that that's the best she can give him, and he rows her the rest of the way to the shore.

She can see the source of the light now – an oil lamp – swinging from the hand of a rather attractive dark-haired man. She thanks the man in the boat and steps out, splashing through a few feet of water before stepping out onto the shore.

"What's your name, then?" she asks him, lifting her hand to keep her hair out of her face. She hasn't had much of a chance to bleach it recently, and as a result, it's gone back to its natural golden-brown shade.

"Tom Milligan," the man replies. "No need to ask who you are. The famous Rose Tyler. How long since you were last in Britain?"

"Three hundred and sixty-five days," she replies with a sigh. "And…" She checks her watch. "Four hours. It's been a long year."

"So what's the plan?"

"We need to meet up with Martha," Rose tells him. "This is what we agreed on, I know where she'll be. After that, we've got to find this Professor Docherty. You think you can get us to her?"

"She works in a repair shed," Tom says. "Nuclear Plant Seven. I can get you inside. What's all this for? What's so important about her?"

Rose hesitates. "Sorry," she apologizes. "The less you know, the better it is for you."

"There's a lot of people depending on you two," he tells her. "You're a bit of a legend."

She huffs a tiny laugh at that. _The stuff of legends. _That's what she was with the Doctor, but she always figured she wasn't much without him. The past two years – one in the parallel, one spent here – have taught her otherwise, but she still knows that she's severely diminished without him at her side. They're a team. Hope and Glory, Mutt and Jeff. Shiver and Shake. "Oh, yeah? What's the legend say?"

"That you sailed the Atlantic," Tom replies. "Walked across America. That Martha was the only person to get out of Japan alive. Rose Tyler and Martha Jones, they say, they're going to save the world." He scoffs. "Bit late for that."

They walk up to a flatbed van, and Rose asks, "How come you can drive? Don't they stop you?"

"Medical staff," he explains. "Used to be in pediatrics back in the old days. But that gives me a license to travel, so I can help out at the labor camps."

A smile tweaks at the corner of Rose's lips. "Travelling with a doctor," she murmurs to herself. Again.

"Story goes that you're the only person on Earth who can kill him," Tom says as they get into the van. "You or Martha, or sometimes both of you. It varies. But mostly, you. They say you and you alone can kill the Master stone dead."

Rose sighs. "There's been enough death," she murmurs, probably too quietly for him to hear. "Just drive," she says.

He drives her to the place she tells him that Martha will be, and they get out of the car. And there she is. Standing exactly where she said she'd be. Whatever else you can say about her, she is a woman of her word.

The past year has aged Martha Jones. She stands taller than Rose remembers. Her back is straighter, her chin held high. Her black hair is tied back in the tightest of buns at the nape of her neck, which is probably more practical than the way Rose wears her now-golden hair, which is just hanging down at her cheeks. She wears all black, and her face is set, completely devoid of emotion. But her eyes tell a story. A tale of woe and hardship and misery and loneliness and using every last ounce of strength you have to summon up the confidence you'll need to carry on. She may give Rose a run for her money as the oldest twenty-something in the world.

Rose isn't expecting much. She knows that they weren't exactly on the best of terms when they parted. They travelled together for about the first week and a half of carrying out the Doctor's plan, but it didn't take them long to realize that neither of them could work like that. They were constantly at odds, always disagreeing on the simplest of things. Rose knew that they both loved the Doctor, that they were both in danger of losing him. She knew that this could either bring them together as a team, both fighting to get back to him, or it could drive them apart. She was willing to let it bring them together. But Martha, with her coldness and her distance and her hostility, made it drive them apart. So after barely a week, they split up. They went their separate ways and justified it by saying it would allow them to 'cover more ground'. And they agreed on where and when to meet. Right here, right now.

When they parted, they were children. Stubborn and angry and unwilling to bend. This past year has changed them into adults. Rose knows this. Still, she isn't exactly expecting a warm welcome.

She certainly isn't expecting Martha to step forward and embrace her like a sister.

But this is exactly what happens. After a moment of confusion, Rose returns the hug. They pull apart quickly, and both look up at the giant statue of the Master towering over them.

"All over the Earth, those things," Martha murmurs. "Have you seen –?"

"Yeah," Rose replies. "He's even carved himself into Mount Rushmore."

"Best to keep down," Tom advises, and they all lie down on their stomachs against the rocks, peering over them onto the shipyards below. "Miss Jones," he acknowledges. "Tom Milligan. It's an honor."

"Yeah," Martha murmurs quietly, but her attention is on the vast expanse below and the fleet of rockets being built there. "Look at that."

"The entire south coast of England," Tom agrees, "converted into shipyards. They bring in slave labor every morning. Break up cars, houses, anything, just for the metal. Building a fleet out of scrap."

"You should see Russia," Rose whispers. "I've just come from there. That's Shipyard Number One. All the way from the Black Sea to the Bering Strait. A hundred thousand rockets, all getting ready for war."

"War?" he echoes. "With who?"

"The rest of the universe," she replies. "I've been out there, Tom. In space, before all of this happened."

"So have I," Martha agrees. "There's a thousand different civilizations around us with no idea of what's happening here. The Master can build weapons big enough to devastate them all."

"You've been in space," Tom says, and it's sort of half-question, half-statement.

"Problem with that?"

"No," he replies. "No, just, er… wow. Anything else I should know about the two of you?"

"I killed the devil," Rose says, perfectly casual.

Martha shifts slightly where she lies, searching for a more comfortable position, and adds, "I've met Shakespeare."

Suddenly, two spheres fly out from behind the statue; Rose's hand automatically goes to her chest, searching for the familiar shape of the key tucked under her shirt. When she finds it, she relaxes – they can't see her. She glances over at Martha, concerned, but the dark-skinned woman just gives her a quick nod. They're both safe.

"Identify, little man," one of the spheres orders.

"I've got a license," Tom stammers, standing quickly and holding up his license. "Thomas Milligan, Peripatetic Medical Squad. I'm allowed to travel. I was just checking fo–"

"Soon, the rockets will fly," a sphere tells him. "And everyone will need medicine. You'll be so busy!" And then they both zoom back towards the shipyard, making the closest noise they can to laughter.

"But – they didn't see you," Tom says, sounding rather bewildered, as he turns back to Rose and Martha.

Martha reaches to her neck and pulls on the string, pulling her key into sight. "How do you think we travelled the world?"

They all get up and head back to the van as Martha explains the perception filter. "Because the Master set up Archangel," she says, "that mobile network, fifteen satellites around the planet, but really it's transmitting this low level psychic field. That's how everyone got hypnotized into thinking he was Harold Saxon."

"You sound just like him," Rose laughs, which earns her an odd look from Tom, but Martha instantly knows that when Rose says 'him', she's not talking about Saxon.

"Saxon," Tom mutters. "Feels like years ago."

"But the key's tuned in to the same frequency," Martha explains. "Makes us sort of… not invisible, just unnoticeable."

"Well, I can see you," he points out.

"Yeah," Rose agrees. "That's because you want to."

He frowns. "Yeah, I suppose I do."

"Is there a Mrs. Milligan?" Martha asks.

"No," he replies. "No. What about you?"

She hesitates. "No," she answers finally. "Not really. I mean, I – no." She clears her throat. "Come on, we've got to find this Docherty woman."

-0-0-0-

Tom cuts a gap in the chain link fence of the shipyard, and they run to a building and rush inside to find an aging woman thumping a cathode ray tube in frustration. "Professor Docherty?" he calls.

"Busy," she replies.

"They, er, sent word ahead," he tells her. "I'm Tom Milligan. This is Rose Tyler." He points to Rose, and then to Martha. "Martha Jones."

"She can be the Queen of Sheba for all I care," Docherty counters. "I'm still busy."

"Televisions don't work anymore," Martha points out.

"Oh, God, I miss Countdown," she sighs. "Never been the same since Des took over. Both Deses. What's the plural for Des? Desi? Deseen?" She sighs again. "But we've been told there's going to be a transmission from the man himself."

"What, the Master?" Rose asks, just as a static-ridden black and white image appears on the television and Docherty cries, "There!"

"My people," comes the Master's loathsome voice through the TV. "Salutations on this, the eve of war. Lovely woman. But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there. Stories of two children walking the Earth, giving you hope. But I ask you…" He pulls a wheelchair into view, and Rose inhales sharply. "How much hope has this man got?" The Master leans down to look at the elderly Doctor in the chair, and says softly, "Say hello, Gandalf." Addressing the camera again, he continues. "Except he's not that old, but he's an alien with a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. But what if it showed?"

"No," Rose murmurs as the Master takes out his laser screwdriver.

"What is it?" Martha whispers. "What's he gonna do?"

"I don't know," Rose replies. "I've got a hunch… fingers crossed that I'm wrong, yeah?"

"What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate?" the Master asks, and Rose's heart sinks. "All nine hundred years of your life, Doctor. What if we could see them?" He retunes his screwdriver, directs it at the Doctor, and activates it. And Rose can only watch as the Doctor goes into super-fast convulsions once again, falling from the wheelchair. "Older, and older, and older," the Master drawls. "Down you go, Doctor. Down, down, down the years."

Finally, the convulsions stop; the Doctor is now on the ground, but the thoughtful cameraman turns the camera downwards so Rose and Martha can watch as a tiny, wrinkled creature with huge brown eyes pokes its head out of an otherwise empty brown pinstriped suit.

The camera returns to the Master's face, and he spits, "Received and understood, Miss Jones? Miss Tyler?"

The broadcast ends, leaving both women frozen where they stand with heavy hearts. A single tear is rolling down Martha's cheek; but although Rose is not crying, she looks more devastated by far. Her lips are parted; her eyes are completely devoid of hope.

"I'm sorry," Tom murmurs, and Rose thinks he's addressing her. Martha lifts her hand and places it on Rose's back, gently rubbing circles there in an attempt to reassure her. "The Doctor's still alive," Martha whispers, and if there were ever four words that could reinspire hope in Rose Tyler, it would be those. She's right. Until today, there was never a guarantee that the man they both love would still be there waiting for them once they'd saved the world. It was always just something that they crossed their fingers and hoped for. But now they know for sure. He's alive. Not in the best condition, surely, but they can work it out. He's alive.

"Obviously, the Archangel Network would seem to be the Master's greatest weakness," Professor Docherty reasons. "Fifteen satellites all around the Earth, still transmitting. That's why there's so little resistance. It's broadcasting a telepathic signal that keeps people scared."

"We could just take them out," Tom suggests.

"We could," she agrees. "Fifteen ground to air missiles. You got any on you? Besides, any military action, the Toclafane descend."

"They're not called the Toclafane," Rose corrects. "That's just an old story from the Master's world, sort of like the Bogeyman. There's no such thing."

"Then what are they, then?" Docherty asks.

"That's why we came to find you," Martha tells her with a shrug. "Know your enemy. I've got this." She takes out a computer disc. "No one's been able to look at a sphere up close. They can't even be damaged. Except once. A lightning strike in South Africa brought one of them down, just by chance. I've got the readings on this."

Docherty takes the disc and puts it into her computer; the big box of a machine struggles to read the data, so she thumps it in irritation, muttering, "Oh, whoever thought we'd miss Bill Gates."

"So is that why you travelled the world?" Tom asks. "To find a disc?"

"No," Martha replies. "Just got lucky."

"I heard stories that you walked the Earth to find a way to build a weapon," Docherty says. Finally, the data on the disc appears on the screen. "There! A current of fifty eight point five kilo amperes transferred charge of five hundred and ten megajoules precisely."

"Can you recreate that?" Tom inquires.

"I think so," she replies. "Easily. Yes."

"Right then," Martha announces. "Tom, we're going to get us a sphere."

-0-0-0-

**So sorry for not updating yesterday! You guys were perfect, I got enough reviews, but... I forgot. It's not all my fault, I'm getting sicker by the day and my brain is pretty much a puddle of mush. I spent today home sick, lying on the couch watching Grey's Anatomy... and it was miserable. That should give you an idea of how sick I am. Anyway, I'm blaming it on that. Sorry**

**To Laura, who reviewed as a guest: As you can see, I will be sticking to the parts of their journey that we saw on the show. However, I am considering writing a companion piece to this story that would follow Rose and Martha as they walked the Earth. Would there be any interest in that?**

**Anyway, ten reviews for the next chapter, as usual. Ta!**

**-Caskett54**


	15. Chapter 15

It doesn't take them long to get set up. Tom and Rose are doing the legwork; Docherty is setting up the trap for the sphere. Martha, being the cleverest out of herself, Rose, and Tom, offers to help Docherty, but the professor turns her down, so she simply stands with Rose, unsure of what to do.

Tom lifts a gun in the air and fires it three times. Within seconds, a sphere comes whizzing around the corner, and when he runs, it chases him.

Rose sees him coming, and both her and Martha charge away from him towards Docherty. "He's coming!" Rose shouts. "Everything ready?"

"You do your job, I'll do mine!" Docherty snaps.

Tom comes running around the corner and rushes past them, yelling out, "Now!"

Docherty flips a switch, and the pursuing sphere is caught in an electrical field set up across the narrow passageway. After a few moments, the electricity shuts off, and it drops to the ground.

"That's only half the job," Docherty says. "Let's find out what's inside."

So they do.

And Rose really wishes they hadn't.

The revelation is not a relief. It's just a brand new burden. These cruel creatures who have been slaughtering them for the past year are none other than the future of the human race. How can she think of the spheres as pure evil now that she knows that they're just the same as her? And what's really the point of carrying on when you know that this is where the human race is headed?

"I think it's time we had the truth, Miss Tyler," Docherty says as they sit in her room afterwards. "Miss Jones. The legend says you two have travelled the world to find a way of killing the Master. Tell us – is it true?"

Martha's the one who replies. "Just before we escaped, the Doctor told me. The Doctor and the Master, they've been coming to Earth for years. And they've been watched."

"There's UNIT," Rose puts in, "and Torchwood, all of them studying Time Lords in secret."

"Ad they made this," Martha continues. "The ultimate defense."

She pulls a large case from her bag and opens it to reveal a gun-like device with a squeeze driver and four small cylindrical slots along the top. Also in the case is a single vial of colored liquid. "Rose, do you –?"

"Here," Rose interrupts, reaching into her pocket and pulling out two more vials of colored liquid. She places them in the case.

"All you need to do is get close," Tom reasons, lifting his gun. "I can shoot the Master dead with this."

"Actually," Docherty says, pushing Tom's gun down, "you can put that down now, thank you very much."

"Point is," Martha says, "it's not so easy to kill a Time Lord. They can regenerate. Literally bring themselves back to life."

"Well, not exactly," Rose corrects. "More like cheat death. It's this little trick, all their atoms rearrange or something and –" She stops. "Yeah, basically bring themselves back to life."

"Ah, the Master's immortal." Docherty sighs. "Wonderful."

"Except for this." Martha picks up the gun, sliding in the vials one by one. "Four chemicals, slotted into the gun. Inject him. Kills a Time Lord permanently."

"Four chemicals?" Tom questions. "You've only got three."

"Still need the last one," she says, "because the components of this gun were kept safe, scattered across the world, and we found them."

"San Diego," Rose says. "Beijing."

"Budapest and London," Martha finishes.

"Then where is it?"

"There's an old UNIT base," she explains, "north London. Rose has got the access codes. Tom, you've got to get us there."

"We can't get across London in the dark," he points out as they pack up. "It's full of wild dogs. We'll get eaten alive. We can wait until the morning, then go with the medical convoy."

"You can spend the night here, if you like," Docherty offers.

"No, we can get halfway," he replies. "Stay at the slave quarters in Bexley. Professor, thank you." He shakes her hand.

"And you," she replies. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Martha says lightly, kissing Docherty's cheek before turning and following Tom towards the doors. Rose stands before Docherty, still for a moment, and then wraps the older woman in a hug. She knows that the moment she, Martha, and Tom are gone, Docherty will likely immediately contact the Master's people to tell them where they are. In fact, she's banking on that assumption. But she doesn't feel betrayed – she knows why Docherty's doing it, knows that she's a good person put in a bad situation and forced to make a terrible choice. And Rose understands her choice. Family comes first.

"Thank you," she murmurs. Docherty seems surprised by the embrace at first, but she soon relaxes into it. Rose pulls away after a few moments, gives her a weak smile, and then turns to leave.

"Rose," Docherty calls after her, and she turns. "Could you do it?" she asks. "Could you actually kill him?"

Rose shrugs sadly. "Haven't really got a choice."

"You might be a lot of things," Docherty says, "but you don't look like a killer to me."

Rose sighs quietly. She really does wish that Docherty was right. If all goes well with their plan, she won't have to kill the Master at all. No one will. But if the plan really did involve a gun in four parts, if she really was confronted with a situation in which the world's only hope rested on whether Rose could kill or not… she honestly doesn't know if she could do it.

She's really scared by the thought that maybe she could.

-0-0-0-

"Let me in," Tom says as he knocks on the door of the slave quarters. "It's Milligan."

The door opens just a crack and a face peers out; upon seeing Tom standing outside, the person behind the door opens it wide enough for them to slip inside.

The place is full to bursting – there's barely enough room for the three of them to stand. "Did you bring any food?" a woman asks hopefully.

"Couldn't get any," Tom replies, "and I'm starving."

"All we've got is water," she tells him.

"I'm sorry," Martha says apologetically.

"It's cheaper than building barracks," Tom explains sadly. "Pack them in, a hundred in each house, ferry them off to the shipyards every morning."

"Are you Rose Tyler?" a boy asks suddenly, and Rose looks up at the sound of her name. "Hmm? Yeah, that's me."

"And Martha Jones?" another child questions, pointing to Martha, who nods assent.

"Can you do it?" the boy asks. "Can you kill him? They say you can kill the Master, can you? Tell us you can do it. Please, tell us you can do it."

"Who is the Master?" a woman calls.

And just like that, the questions start pouring in. Everyone in the room starts talking at once, and there's no way to distinguish one voice from another. Everyone wants to be heard, listened to, answered. They all want to know. And they all want a little bit of hope.

Rose isn't sure if she can give them both.

"Come on, just leave them alone," Tom urges. "They're exhausted."

"No, it's alright," Martha interrupts. "They want us to talk, and we will." She looks to Rose for confirmation, and Rose nods in agreement.

The people move aside just enough to give Rose and Martha space to sit on the stairs, and Martha begins the story. "We travelled across the world," she starts. "I crossed the radiation pits of Europe and watched the sky catch fire over Japan."

"From the ruins of New York to the fusion mills of China," Rose agrees quietly. "And everywhere I went, I saw people just the same as you lot, living as slaves. And you all made us a legend. Martha Jones and Rose Tyler, walking the Earth. Alone."

"But that's wrong," Martha chimes in, "because our names aren't important. There's someone else. The man who sent us out there, the man who told me to walk the Earth. And his name is the Doctor."

"He's an alien," Rose says. "He's lived for nine hundred years. He's had ten different faces, and he's saved this planet with each and every one of them. You all owe him your lives a hundred times over, but you never even knew he was there."

"He never stops," Martha continues. "He never stays. He never asks to be thanked. But I've seen him. I know him." She falters, swallows, and is silent for a moment before Rose takes up the tale, blinking back tears and brushing blonde hair out of her face before saying, quite simply, "I love him." She takes a deep breath, and says, "And I know what he's like. What he can do."

"It's him!" a woman shrieks suddenly, obviously panicked. "It's him! Oh, my God, it's him! It's the Master, he's here!"

"But he never comes to Earth," a boy says. "He never walks upon the ground."

"Hide them!" the woman urges, pointing to Rose and Martha.

"Use this." Tom passes an old sack to the people near Rose and Martha, and they drape it over the two women. Rose closes her eyes gently as she lies against the stairs; her lips silently form words, and anyone watching would think that she's praying, but she isn't. She's mouthing words to the Doctor. She can hear Martha breathing beside her, can hear the panic in the audible inhalation and exhalation.

"He walks among us," the boy says hauntingly. "Our lord and Master."

"Rosie-Posy!" comes a shout from outside the house, and Rose shivers involuntarily at the sound. She loves that nickname with Jack uses it. She hates it when anyone else calls her that. But the sound of it in the Master's despicable voice… she loathes it so much that it fills her up and her eyes burn with rage. "Martha Jo-ones!" he sing-songs. "I can see you! Out you come, little girls. Come and meet your Master." No one gives any response. "Anybody? Nobody? No? Nothing? Positions," he orders, and she can hear the guns being cocked. "I'll give the order," he threatens, "unless you surrender. Ask yourselves: what would the Doctor do?"

Rose turns to Martha to see that she's taking the TARDIS key from around her neck with shaking fingers. She reaches up, grabbing the hand of the dark-skinned woman. "You don't have to," she whispers urgently. "Let me go out, I'll tell him we split up."

"No." Martha pulls her hand from Rose's grip and places the key on the stairs. "We're in this together."

Rose hesitates, but after a moment, she nods. Silently, she lifts her TARDIS key from around her neck, balls up the string, and tucks it in her jacket pocket. "Is it still working?"

Martha shakes her head. "No."

"Good." They move in unison, as though responding to some unspoken order – as they stand, their hands find each other and clasp together. The tightness with which they knit their fingers together is nothing like the way the Doctor and Rose would lock hands while running. That was a promise that they would never be separated, that nothing could tear them apart. This is an attempt at reassurance, a promise that in the face of this unspeakable danger and evil, they stand together. It's reminiscent of friendship, of sisterhood.

No one tries to stop them as they make their way to the door. As Martha gently pushes Tom's gun down, Rose looks back at the people crowded into the house and whispers, "Thank you."

And then, together, they step outside.

"Oh, yes," the Master laughs. "Oh, very well done. Good girls. He trained you well. Bag. Give me the bag." Martha lets go of Rose's hand and takes off her backpack, stepping towards the Master. "No, stay there," he orders. "Just throw it."

Martha obeys, throwing the bag to the ground at the Master's feet. And he fires his laser screwdriver at it, and it goes up in flame.

"And now, good companions," he says, lifting the screwdriver and pointing it at Martha, "your work is done."

"No!" Rose's head whips around at the voice, and she sees Tom charging out of the house, pointing his gun at the Master. But before he can do anything, the Master fires his screwdriver at Tom, and he drops to the ground. Lifeless. And the Master just laughs.

"But you," he says to them. "When you die… the Doctor should be witness. Especially you, Rose Tyler." He laughs wickedly. "Oh, his face will be priceless! I don't think I'll make it quick, Rosie-Posy. I want to savor it. You too, Miss Jones." He sighs. "Almost dawn, Martha, and planet Earth marches to war."

-0-0-0-

**We're fast approaching the end of this story... I'm sad to see it go. Probably sadder than I should be, honestly. Blame it on the sickness and the headache meds. Anyways, I've discovered that I love Tuesdays. Why, you ask? Because on tumblr, it's Tennant Tuesday, and my dash is flooded with David this and David that! It's amazing and quite beautiful. **

**Anyways, you're going to like the next chapter. There's some drama, some action, and, well... you can't see me, but I'm raising my eyebrows suggestively. At any rate, you're all going to enjoy it. So I'm charging fifteen reviews. Because I'm mean like that. Muahahahaha.**

**If I wasn't brain-dead I would insert a clever Moriarty quote here. But I am brain-dead. Sorry.**

**-Caskett54**


	16. Chapter 16

"Citizens of Earth, rejoice and observe!"

The doors before Rose and Martha slide open to reveal the bridge of the _Valiant_; the guards behind them push them unceremoniously forward, and they stumble into the room. Jack stands on one side; Martha's eyes are immediately drawn to the other side, where her mother, father, and sister stand together. But as Rose approaches the Master at Martha's side, her gaze is locked on the Doctor.

"Your teleport device," the Master says, "in case you thought I'd forgotten."

A disgruntled-looking Martha reaches down, pulls Jack's vortex manipulator from her boot, and throws it to the Master. "And now, kneel," he orders, and they do. "Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe. Are we ready?"

"The fleet awaits your signal," comes the reply. "Rejoice!"

"Three minutes to align the black hole converters," the Master says, and a countdown clock on the wall starts up. "Counting down. I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?"

"We will fly ad blaze and slice," a sphere replies over the radio. "We will fly and blaze and slice."

"At zero," the Master announces, "to mark this day, the children Rose Tyler and Martha Jones will die. My first blood. Any last words?" He looks down at them expectantly. "No? Such a disappointment, these two. I heard stories, Rose Tyler, that you could absorb the time vortex. Now you're useless! Bow your head." Rose doesn't let the biting retort she's concocting in her head pass her lips. She has to follow the plan. So, fuming, she remains silent and bows her head.

"And so it falls to me," he says, "as Master of all, to establish from this day a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward –"

And then Martha laughs.

The Master stops talking in midsentence when he hears her soft chuckles. "What?" he demands irritably. "What's so funny?"

Martha looks up to deliver her reply. "A gun," she says.

"What about it?"

"A gun in four parts."

"Yes," he agrees, "and I destroyed it."

"A gun," she repeats, "in four parts, scattered across the world? I mean, come on! Did you really believe that?"

"What do you mean?"

"As if I would ask them to kill," the Doctor rasps from his birdcage on the other side of the room.

"Oh, well, it doesn't matter," the Master points out. "I've got them exactly where I want them."

"But we knew what Allison Docherty would do." Rose looks up as she joins the conversation. "The Resistance knew all about her son."

"We told her about the gun so she'd get us here at the right time," Martha chimes in.

"But you're still gonna die!" the Master retorts.

"Don't you want to know what I was doing?" Martha asks. "What we were doing, travelling the world?"

He spreads his hands nonchalantly. "Tell me."

"We told a story," Rose says. "That's all. Words, not weapons. Just what the Doctor said – we walked across the Earth, across the continents all on our own. And everywhere we went, we found the people that you oppressed and enslaved, and we told them a story."

"We told them about the Doctor," Martha continues. "And we told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor."

"Faith and hope?" the Master says mockingly. "Is that all?"

"No," Martha replies, a grin growing on her face as she stands. "Because I gave them an instruction. Just as the Doctor said."

"We told them," Rose says, standing up, "that if everyone thinks of just one word, all at the same time –"

"Nothing will happen!" he interrupts. "Is that your weapon? Prayer?"

"Right across the world," Martha says victoriously, "just one word, just one thought at one moment… but with fifteen satellites."

That gives him pause. "What?"

"The Archangel Network," Rose says.

"A telepathic field!" Martha cries. "Binding the whole human race together, with all of them, every single person on earth thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word… is Doctor."

The countdown hits zero, and Rose turns to see that both the tiny, shriveled Doctor and his cage have begun to glow.

"Stop it," the Master warns. "No, no, no, no, you don't."

"Doctor," Jack whispers, closing his eyes. "Doctor."

"Doctor," Martha's mum says.

"Don't!"

"Doctor!" The crowd on the _Valiant_'s monitor is chanting his name over and over again, like a mantra. Like a battle cry. "Doctor! Doctor!"

"Stop this right now," the Master orders. "Stop it!"

And then his wife closes her eyes and joins him with a whisper of "Doctor."

"Doctor."

"Doctor," Martha murmurs hopefully.

"Doctor," Rose agrees. But she doesn't close her eyes. She keeps them wide open, watching as a blue glow engulfs the Doctor and he grows, gradually returning to the form of the Doctor she knows and loves. Tall and skinny in a pinstriped suit. Incredible dark brown hair and such warm brown eyes.

"The one thing you can't do," he says, and at the sound of his voice, Rose stifles a cheer. "Stop them thinking."

Martha immediately turns and runs to her family, joining them in a group hug. Rose takes a step towards the Doctor, but decides against it and instead runs to Jack; he wraps her in his arms with all the force of a brother's embrace, lifting her a few inches off the ground before setting her down with a murmur of, "Nice going, Rosie."

"Thanks," she replies with a smile.

"No!" She looks back at the Master to see him attempting to fire his laser screwdriver at the Doctor but getting nowhere. The beam can't get through the blue energy field.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor says. "I'm so sorry."

The Master retunes his screwdriver and extends it towards Rose and Jack with a threatening shout of, "Then I'll kill her!" But before he can do anything, the Doctor simply lifts his hand and the screwdriver flies to the other side of the room.

"You can't do this," the Master cries. "You can't do it. It's not fair!"

"And you know what happens now," the Doctor says apologetically, floating towards the Master.

"No!" the Master yells, backing away from the Doctor. "No! No!" He backs down the stairs. "No!"

"You wouldn't listen."

"No!" His back is now pressed against the wall – he can retreat no further.

"Because you know what I'm going to say."

"No!" The Master curls up in a corner, looking like he's expecting to die any second now. But that's not what happens. No, when the Doctor's white trainers touch the ground and the blue energy disperses, he doesn't kill the Master. Instead, he kneels and puts his arms around him and whispers, "I forgive you."

"My children," the Master sobs.

"Protect the paradox!" comes the cry of a sphere from over the radio. "Protect the paradox! Protect the paradox."

"Captain!" the Doctor shouts, looking up at Jack. "The paradox machine!"

Jack pulls away from Rose, turning to a few of the guards and calling, "You men, with me!" He places his hands reassuringly on Rose's shoulders. "You stay here," he instructs her, and presses a kiss to her forehead before running off with the guards.

"No!" Rose spins on the balls of her feet at the sound of the Doctor's voice, but she barely turns in time to see him and the Master both disappear.

"No!" she cries, rushing towards the space where they were. "Where'd they go?"

"Rose!" Martha calls urgently. "We've got all six billion spheres heading right for us!"

Rose hurries over to where she's looking out the window at the oncoming flood of spheres. "Well, what do we do?"

"I don't know!" Martha casts her a panicked look. "I mean, if Jack manages to disable the paradox machine –"

"We can't count on him managing that in time," Rose points out. "What's plan B?"

"I don't know!" Martha repeats, and then she pauses and thinks. "Has this ship got any weapons?"

"I don't know, probably," Rose reasons. "I'll look." She hurries over to the control panel, and immediately realizes that she has no idea what she's looking for. Any of the hundreds of buttons and switches could activate the weapons. She doesn't have a clue what she's doing.

"Doctor," she mutters. "Where are you?"

"Rose!" Martha shouts suddenly. "They're – I don't know! Just – disappearing!"

"What?" She turns and rushes back to Martha just as the ship begins to shake violently. Papers fly everywhere, and Rose is thrown to the side. She fully expects to hit the floor, but instead, she collides with something much warmer and much more familiar and welcome.

"Hello!" the Doctor says, grinning down at her as they stand together despite the quaking ship. Normally, she would engage in their old game and reply with a happy 'Hello!' But this is something of a special occasion. So she does something a little bit different.

She pulls him down by the lapels of his suit and smashes her lips into his.

She kisses him passionately, and though it's a few moments before he recovers from the surprise, once he does, he responds with equal enthusiasm. She has no doubt that they would've stood there for much longer than they do, but the rocking of the ship very nearly throws them into a wall, and they break apart.

"Everyone get down!" the Doctor yells to the entire group. "Time is reversing!"

They immediately drop to the ground, clinging to each other's hands; out of the corner of her eye, Rose can see Martha doing the same, and the Master hanging onto some railings. As the ship continues to shake, she meets the Doctor's eyes – he's grinning. "So," he says playfully.

"I love you," she tells him earnestly, and though it's not the first time she's said those words, this is the true confession. Last time, it was all tears and devastation and loneliness and misery, and it carried none of the weight that it should have. It was just that thing that you always sort of meant to say, blurted out because you know it's your last chance to say it even though it's really not the right time. This is easier. This is simple. This is purely true.

His only response is an infatuating grin.

When the ship finally stops shaking, they both stand, holding onto each other for support. "The paradox is broken," he says. "We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning."

"_This is UNIT Central," _comes a man's voice over the radio. _"What's happened up there? We just saw the president assassinated!"_

"Just after the president was killed," the Doctor deduces. "But just before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was."

"What about the spheres?" Martha asks, stepping forward to join the Doctor and Rose.

"Trapped at the end of the universe," the Doctor replies.

"It's kind of sad, actually," Rose murmurs. "I mean, they were _us."_

"But I can remember it," Martha's mum says.

"We're at the eye of the storm," the Doctor explains. "The only ones who'll ever know. Oh, hello!" He steps towards Martha's father. "You must be Mr. Jones. We haven't actually met."

The Master chooses that moment to make a break for the door. Fortunately, Jack is just returning, and he catches the Master and turns him around, saying, "Whoa, big fella! You don't want to miss the party. Cuffs." One of the guards hands him handcuffs, and he puts them on the Master. "So, what do we do with this one?"

"We kill him," Martha's father suggests viciously.

"We execute him," Tish agrees.

"No, that's not the solution," the Doctor says.

"Oh, I think so." At the sound of her shaking voice, everyone turns to look at Martha's mother; she's lifting a pistol, aiming it at the Master. "Because all those things, they still happened because of him. I saw them."

"Go on," the Master spits. "Do it."

"Francine," the Doctor says, stepping towards her. "You're better than him." He places his hand over hers, helping her to lower the gun. And once he has, she slumps, and he embraces her before handing her off to Martha.

"You still haven't answered the question," the Master says. "What happens to me?"

"You're my responsibility from now on," the Doctor replies. "The only Time Lord left in existence."

"Yeah," Jack puts in, "but you can't trust him."

"No," the Doctor agrees. "The only safe place for him is the TARDIS."

"What," Rose says, "so we're gonna just keep him?"

"Mmm." The Doctor nods. "If that's what I have to do. It's time to change." He looks over at her, a small smile on his lips. "Maybe I've been wandering for too long. Now I've got someone to care for."

Rose opens her mouth to make some comment about how he's already got her, or perhaps about how it's going to get crowded in the TARDIS, or maybe something like 'two someones'. But before she gets the chance, a shot echoes through the room, and the Master staggers backwards.

The Doctor instantly leaves Rose's side, rushing towards the Master and catching him; Rose's eyes scan the room, searching for the person holding the gun, and her gaze lands on Lucy Saxon at the exact same time as Jack's does.

"Put it down," Jack commands, hurrying towards her as the Doctor lowers the Master to the ground, saying, "There you go. I've got you. I've got you."

"Always the women," the Master remarks.

"I didn't see her."

"Dying in your arms," he mutters cynically. "Happy now?"

"You're not dying," the Doctor corrects. "Don't be stupid. It's only a bullet. Just regenerate."

"No."

"One little bullet," he urges. "Come on."

"I guess you don't know me so well," the Master rasps. "I refuse."

"Regenerate," the Doctor orders. "Just regenerate. Please, please! Just regenerate, come on!"

"And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you?"

"You've got to," the Doctor pleads. "Come on. It can't end like this. You and me, all the things we've done. Axons, remember the Axons? And the Daleks. We're the only two left, there's no one else. Regenerate!"

"How about that," the Master comments quietly. "I win." He pauses for a moment to let that sink in before asking, "Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming?" He takes a deep, labored breath. "Will it stop?"

And then he exhales, and his eyelids drift down over his eyes.

"No!" the Doctor shouts, and Rose feels a stab at the obvious pain in his voice. It doesn't matter that this is the _Master, _that he's a killer without a conscious. It doesn't matter that he's a god-awful person who's committed countless atrocities. He was hope, and now he's gone. And the Doctor is the last again.

Rose steps towards him as he holds the Master's body close; she kneels beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder and whispering, "Hey." He looks up at the sound of her voice (she notices he's not even making an effort to blink away his tears) and lifts his free arm, wrapping it around her shoulders and pulling her close to him. He clings to her like a lifeline, holding her just as tightly as he holds the body of the Master.

He holds on tight to two figures. The man who died to leave him behind, and the woman who fought so that she wouldn't have to.

-0-0-0-

**Hahaha! Aren't I amazing? Yeah, I'm amazing. I'm also having a cupcake craving. Does anyone want to come over and make me cupcakes? I will love you forever.**

**The next chapter is the last... dun dun duuuuh. I'm sad, too, but it's a pretty great ending if I do say so myself, so I'm also really excited to give it to you guys. Fifteen reviews or Godzilla will come and bite your face off.**

**...I'm not sure where that came from. I was searching for a witty remark and 'Godzilla' just came into my mind. I haven't even seen Godzilla. My mind makes no sense to me. Anyways, fifteen reviews for the grand finale!**

**Love you!**

**-Caskett54**


	17. Chapter 17

"Time was, every single one of these people knew your name," Martha says as they look out over the Roald Dahl Plass. "Now they've all forgotten you."

"Good," the Doctor replies.

"Back to work," Jack remarks from where he stands across the railing from them.

"Oh, can't you stay for a bit?" Rose pleads.

"I really don't mind," the Doctor assures him. "Come with us."

Jack takes a deep breath. "I had plenty of time to think that past year. The year that never was. And I kept thinking about that team of mine. Like you said, Doctor. Responsibility."

"Defending the Earth." The Doctor nods. "Can't argue with that." And then he reaches out, grabs Jack's hand, and points the sonic at the vortex manipulator on his wrist.

"Hey, I need that!" Jack protests.

"I can't have you walking around with a time-travelling teleport," the Doctor tells him as he disables the manipulator. "You could go anywhere. Twice. The second time to apologize."

"And what about me?" Jack asks. "Can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?"

The Doctor shakes his head. "Nothing I can do."

Rose reaches out, grabbing Jack's hand and holding it tightly. "I'm sorry," she tells him earnestly. "I really am."

"I know," he replies, and then turns to the Doctor. "But I keep wondering. What about aging? Because I can't die, but I keep getting older. The odd little gray hair, you know? What happens if I live for a million years?"

"I really don't know."

Jack laughs. "Okay, vanity. Sorry. Yeah, can't help it. Used to be a poster boy when I was a kid, living on the Boeshane Peninsula. Tiny little place. I was the first one ever to be signed up for the Time Agency." He sighs nostalgically. "They were so proud of me. The Face of Boe, they called me. Hmm." He grins at each of them in turn. "I'll see you." And then he turns and heads off towards the secret entrance to Torchwood Three, leaving Rose, the Doctor, and Martha all staring after him, completely dumbstruck.

The Doctor is the first to speak, shaking his head and uttering a disbelieving, "No."

"It can't be," Martha whispers.

"No," the Doctor repeats, shaking his head emphatically. "Definitely not. No. No." He looks down at Rose to see that her lips have curved up in a grin and the tip of her tongue is poking out between her teeth. He loves that grin, has loved it since the day they got back from their first ever adventure and she decided she wanted chips. Their first date, she called it.

"D'you want chips?" he asks her suddenly, and for a moment she doesn't reply because she wasn't really expecting him to ask her that. It wasn't surprising, really, just a bit out of context. But after a second, her grin widens, and she nods. "Yeah."

"Martha?" He turns to his other companion. "Chips?"

She hesitates, and then shrugs and says, "Why not?"

"Chips it is," he declares; he loops his arms over their shoulders, and, laughing, they head off. The Time Lord victorious and the two humans he loves more than anything.

-0-0-0-

"Right then, off we go!" the Doctor announces once they're all back on the TARDIS (which is sitting outside Martha's mum's house). "The open road. There is a burst of starfire right now over the coast of Meta Sigmafolio. Oh, the sky is like oil on water. Fancy a look? Or back in time. We could, I don't know… Charles the Second? Henry the Eighth. I know, what about Agatha Christie? I'd love to meet Agatha Christie, I bet she's brilliant!" Rose, who's standing just beside him, is grinning enthusiastically. But it's just now that he realizes that Martha's expression is completely somber. "Okay," he murmurs.

"I just can't," she says sadly.

"Yeah," he agrees.

"I'll, um –" Rose bites her lip awkwardly and points to the door. "I'll give you two a moment." And then she slips past Martha to the door and leaves the TARDIS, and the Doctor focuses his attention on Martha Jones.

"Spent all those years training to be a doctor," she says. "Now I've got people to look after. They saw half the planet slaughtered and they're devastated. I can't just leave them."

"Of course not," he replies without missing a beat. "Thank you. Martha Jones, you saved the world."

"Yes, I did," she agrees with a smile. "I spent a lot of time with you thinking I was second best. To you, and, you know, to…" She trails off, but the way her gaze flickers to the TARDIS door and then back to him makes it clear who she's talking about. "But you know what?" She grins. "I am good. You going to be alright?"

"Always," he says. "Yeah."

"'Course you are." She smiles. "You've got your Rose." She sucks in a deep breath, and says, "Right then. Bye." And then she turns and leaves the TARDIS.

And about a half a second later, she walks right back in.

"Because the thing is," she says, "it's like my friend Vicky. She lived with this bloke, student housing, there were five of them all packed in, and this bloke was called Sean, and she loved him. She did. She completely adored him, spent all day long talking about him –"

"Is this going anywhere?" he interrupts.

"Yes!" she says emphatically. "Because he never looked at her twice. I mean, he liked her, but that was it. And she wasted years pining after him. Years of her life. Because while he was around, she never looked at anyone else. And I told her, I always said to her, time and time again, I said… _get out._" She shrugs. "So, this is me. Getting out."

She pulls her mobile phone from her pocket and tosses it to him. "Keep that," she instructs, "because I'm not having you disappear. If that rings – when that rings – you'd better come running. Got it?"

He holds up the phone and nods. "Got it."

She grins and points to him, saying, "I'll see you again, mister." And then, still smiling, she turns and leaves the TARDIS.

Once she's out the doors, she pauses for a moment, just making sure that she's making the right decision. And then she takes a deep breath and walks away.

Only to stop in her tracks when she hears a voice behind her.

"Is it my fault?"

She turns – she'd almost forgotten about Rose, leaning up against the side of the TARDIS, 'giving her and the Doctor a moment'. "Is what your fault?"

"You," Rose replies, pushing off the TARDIS and stepping towards Martha with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "This. You're not – you're not leaving because of me, are you?"

Martha allows herself a breathy laugh. "No, Rose," she says. "It's not you."

"Then what is it?" Rose asks. "Because no one just leaves. All the things the Doctor shows you, all that mad, incredible wonder, you can't just go back to living a normal life after that. I've met an old companion of his, Sarah Jane, she told me how hard it is. Going back."

"Well, I'm not her," Martha replies. "I'm not you. I wanted to be, yeah – all that time with him, I spent a lot of it wishing I was you, because the way he talked about you… I wanted that to be me. But I learned a lot over that last year, and one of the things I learned is that I'm not you. I can't be." She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly; the air hisses softly as it escapes her lips. "That's not why I'm leaving, though. This is the right thing for me. I'm just now sort of… finding myself, you know?"

Rose nods. "Yeah," she whispers.

"You found yourself a while back," Martha comments. "The Doctor, he helped you to find yourself. But that's another way that I'm not like you, because while he's around… I can't. I can't be me when I'm with him, because when he's around, he's all I'm about. And… I want… more in my life than just him. I've got to find myself on my own. If there's one thing that last year taught me, it's that I'm stronger on my own than I thought." She shrugs. "I've got to be away from him. It's the only way I'm going to be me."

Rose nods, and she seems to understand. But when Martha embraces her, her expression goes from understanding to uncomprehending. "What's that for, huh?"

Martha shrugs. "I'll miss you."

Rose frowns. "Why?" she asks. "I would've thought… I mean, I was sort of the reason he never looked at you twice. Right? And you loved him."

"I still love him," Martha admits. "But I'm moving on. I mean, he's never going to see me that way, especially not with you around. But here…" She sighs. "I'm still young, there's hope for me yet. Who knows, maybe I'll find someone else."

"What'll you do?"

Martha breathes in deeply, as though tasting the air. "Anything," she replies. "I'll spend time with my family, help them to get through this. Go back to medical school. Be a doctor, like I always wanted to. Move on." She smiles. "You know. Anything I like."

Rose nods, her lips spreading in a small smile. "Are we gonna see you again?"

"I hope so," Martha replies. "I left the Doctor my mobile. If I need you, I'll call."

"Even if it's just for a glass of wine and some girl talk," Rose suggests, her smile widening. "Been a while since I had a best mate."

Martha smiles. "I'll soon fix that," she promises. "Alright. I'll see you around, Rose Tyler."

Rose nods. "Good luck, then, Doctor Jones."

At the use of the title, Martha grins and gives an appreciative nod and a playful salute, which Rose returns. And then the two women turn their backs on each other and go their separate ways – one towards the house which holds her family, and the other back into the box which holds the man she loves.

"Is she alright?" the Doctor asks, concerned, as Rose walks up the stairs towards the console and him.

"Yeah, she's alright," Rose replies as she walks right up to him and wraps her arms around him, resting her head against his chest. "She's more than alright. She's brilliant." She pulls away just far enough so that she can turn her chin up and meet his eyes. "Are you?"

A grin crosses his face. "Rose Tyler," he says, folding her in his arms and hugging her fiercely; a small squeak escapes her lips when he lifts her off the ground and spins her around once before placing her down again. "I have never been better."

"You're mad," she laughs, grinning. "You are completely and properly mad, and I love you." Now that she's said those words more than once, they come as easily as breathing. She almost feels like she'll have to keep her mouth shut if she wants to prevent them from slipping out. They rage in her mind, dominating her thoughts, a mantra repeated over and over again, chanting in her head like the Master's drums. _I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. _

"Quite right, too," he agrees, picking her up and spinning her around again. She's laughing uncontrollably as the TARDIS interior blurs around her and the only solid things are her and him, and when he finally puts her down, she dizzily collapses against his chest, still shaking with laughter. She can hear him chuckling as well as he puts his arms around her, and she willingly folds herself in his embrace. They stand there, together, until their laughter fades into deep, rhythmic breathing. She can feel the beat of both his hearts against her chest, and he's not beating out a samba today. They're quietly thumping in perfect sync with her own.

When she pulls away, she doesn't leave his arms. Just as before, she only withdraws enough that she can make eye contact. "Say it," she whispers.

He frowns. "Say what?"

"What you were going to say," she clarifies. "On Bad Wolf Bay, what you were going to say to me. You said 'Rose Tyler', and then… the end of that sentence…" She lifts her hand to his cheek, brushing her fingers along his jawline and then draping her hand over his shoulder. "Say it."

He's silent for so long that she starts to think that he doesn't plan to say anything at all. But finally, he says, "I've got a bit more than two minutes, so I'll say a bit more than I was planning to." He lifts his hand and gently cups her cheek. "Rose Tyler," he begins. "Nine hundred years of travelling, and I've never met anyone quite like you. You're not just the next in a long line. You're different. You saw an angry, vengeful man, a battle-hardened warrior, bitter and cruel after just losing everything, and you didn't run away. You saw more than what he was – you saw what he could be. A good man. And you single-handedly turned him into that."

Rose opens her mouth to say something, but he shakes his head and cuts her off. "No, don't say anything. It's my turn." He caresses her cheek with his thumb, takes a deep breath, and continues. "You never give up. You never back down. You never do what I tell you to, and I hate that about you, but only because it scares me. Watching you throw yourself into danger was always difficult for me, because particularly in this body, losing you was always the worst thing I could imagine. And when I did lose you, it hurt more than watching my entire planet burn. And when you found me again…" A smile crosses his face. "Rose, you have no idea. I never wanted to let you out of my sight again. And I was so proud of you. So, so proud. You did what you do best – you stood strong. You never gave up, and, against impossible odds, you found your way back to me. And I can never thank you enough for that."

He lifts his other hand and places it on her other cheek, so he's cupping her face between his palms. "Rose Tyler," he breathes. "You're as bright and strong as the sun and as lovely and compassionate as the moon. You make stars shine and worlds turn. You can take a bitter man and turn him into a better one. And I will never be worthy of you, but I don't care." He smiles weakly, brushing his thumb across her cheek. "Because I love you."

She doesn't let him say another word – before he has the chance, she turns her face upward and presses her lips to his. It's stronger than the time she kissed him in the alley when he was trying to convince her to leave, but not nearly so heated as their kiss on the _Valiant. _It's not crazed or passionate, nor is it a whisper of a kiss. It's something in between. It's soft and sweet, hesitant at first, but more confident when he responds. He lifts his hand to the back of her head, tangling his fingers in her hair; he pushes her lips apart with the force of his kiss, savoring the taste of her breath in his mouth. It's simple and emotional, and when she pulls away, there are tears glistening in her eyes.

"I love you," they say in unison, and their faces light up in identical grins. And they waste no time in returning to snogging.

This time, it's more heated, and he's not ashamed to admit that she's really leading and he's following. She's the one who backs him up against the console, who presses her hands against his chest, who forces his lips apart and explores his mouth with her tongue. He follows her lead, right up until the moment when the downside of kissing against the TARDIS console manifests itself and his hand hits a lever, and they're interrupted by a blaring alarm.

They break apart and stand there, silent, for a few moments before they both burst out laughing. Everything – the absurdity of their situation, the giddiness over kissing each other, this new awkwardness – just mixes together into a recipe for unreasonable hilarity. He stops laughing first, saying, "I should probably fix that," but she's still basking in her euphoria and his statement only doubles her peals of laughter. And he can't help but join in as he circles the console, searching for the problem and eventually fixing it with the push of a button.

And then he turns back to her, and he asks her, "How long are you going to stay with me?" Just the same way he did before.

And her answer is exactly the same: a simple, pure, heartfelt promise of, "Forever."

-0-0-0-

**Oh my God. It's over. I finished this little monster. **

**Holy crap. This is sad.**

**I managed to end on a rather fluffy note, didn't I? I hope you're all happy with how this turned out (it certainly ended up a lot longer than I expected it to!). I'm considering writing a sequel, which would basically just be Series 4 with Rose added in, but I'm not really sure about it. It's been done a million times before, and rewrites bug me. I much prefer to write original content, it's more fun. But if you all really want me to do a sequel, I will. Because I love you all that much.**

**Anyways, leave me a final review (ooh, that sounds a bit ominous, doesn't it?) in that box down yonder, and if you liked this story, give some of my other fics a read! Yep, shameless self-advertising. Seriously, though. Check them out, they're fantastic/brilliant/cool.**

**And now, as I wrap this up, let me say - this has been an incredible experience, and I've been along for the ride right next to you. I've enjoyed writing this for you guys so much, and I'm really sad to see it end. You guys aren't just the best group of readers a girl could ask for - you're friends. And if that's a little creepy, than so be it. I love you anyways. So thank you so much for taking this ride with me. You really are the best.**

**I love you all!**

**-Caskett54**


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